


Do It Right This Time

by Cynder2013



Series: Superboy and the Invisible Girl [2]
Category: DCU (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, American Sign Language, Blood and Injury, Emiko Queen is White Canary, Gang Violence, Gen, Hurricanes, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Magic-Users, New 52, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Swearing, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Twitter, Wildfires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynder2013/pseuds/Cynder2013
Summary: Superboy meets invisible girl and...Wait. Haven't we done this already?This one has fire? Well, that makes all the difference.
Relationships: Cassie Sandsmark & Emiko Queen, Garfield Logan & Miguel Barragan, Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent
Series: Superboy and the Invisible Girl [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835158





	1. In Which First Aid Is Required

**Author's Note:**

> The tutorial I used for Twitter mimicking can be found [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15664164) (How to Mimic Social Media in an AO3 Work: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15664164)

Finley was a town of give or take (mostly take) thirty-nine thousand that was just north of Toronto. It had two street gangs and a rotating cast of splinter groups involved in various criminal enterprises. It had a river, which was used for transport of mostly illegal things. It had two churches, a mosque and a synagogue—the people were criminals, not wholly godless. It had a nightclub owned by the Nickel Kings and a rundown bar owned by the Jokerz, and a clear dividing line between their territories that sifted around every few months but never really moved.

It also had a witch.

Then the witch died and the town got a superhero. 

* * *

Surrounded By Sharks  
@davidan   
Little sis is trying to give Mom a heart attack again. Any bets on when Mom breaks out Wendy the Werewolf Stalker to keep her busy? #INeverGetToWatchTV #OldestSiblingProblems 10:46 PM - 7 July 2015  5  15 

Dick Grayson  
@FlyingGrayson   
Replying to @davidan It’s been my experience that younger siblings are powered by caffeine. Can you safely block the flow of coffee? 10:57 PM -7 July 2015  46  78 

Surrounded By Sharks  
@davidan   
Replying to @davidan and @FlyingGrayson She'd break my hand if I tried. 11:04 PM - 7 July 2015  0  7 

Dick Grayson  
@FlyingGrayson   
Replying to @davidan and @FlyingGraysonYeah that’s what my brother does. It helps if I wear armor and distract him with something shiny. 11:39 PM -7 July 2015  58  121 

Terrance Noble  
@manwithcrossbow   
Dick Grayson telling a complete stranger how to steal his sister’s coffee wins the internet today. 11:45 PM - 7 July 2015  132  150 

😺Emma  
@Emmathemusical   
Replying to @manwithcrossbow #OnlyInGotham will Dick Grayson be a mentor on Twitter while being held hostage. 10:12 AM - 8 July 2015  68  104 

* * *

Contrary to her brother’s belief, Delilah An did not set out to give their mom a heart attack the day she nearly died (for the third time that month). She’d had an argument with their dad and had the sense to text their mom to tell her that she’d be walking around town until the custody agreement was satisfied and she could go home. She had a vague idea that she might meander in the direction of the burnt out magic shop and see if the resident ghost (?)/minor goddess (?) was around. Maybe she’d do a bit of work on the jacket she was wearing to make it bulletproof like her superhero suit.

Then she got hit in the head with a baseball bat.

Delilah turned her fall into a roll that allowed her to look behind her and see the Harley Quinn impersonator wielding a hot pink bat that matched her dress. Behind the clown girl, two more clowns were jogging toward them. None of the three were wearing the Jokerz white makeup.

Was it initiation time already?

It managed to get through Delilah’s aching head that it was the end of September. So, yeah, it was initiation time. And based on the feedback in her right ear the hit had busted something in one of her hearing aids. Gods damn it all.

Delilah ran. She focused on not tripping over her own feet and ran as fast as she could for Nickel Kings territory. The Jokerz wannabes wouldn’t risk killing her there, not if they valued their own lives. Though considering that they were Jokerz wannabes their sense of self-preservation was likely severely lacking. The Blacklight was half a block away. If she made it half a block she’d be safe. The Nickel Kings didn’t let anyone commit murder in or around their club. It was bad for business.

By the time Delilah made it to the Blacklight she wasn’t being chased anymore. She didn’t know when the wannabes had stopped, but when she nearly collided with a woman in front of the club it didn’t result in a four person pile-up.

The woman said something that with one damaged hearing aid sounded like “You ha mutton orphan dear” and wasn’t much better with lip reading because the woman was wearing a scarf that she kept pulling over her mouth. Delilah figured that since the woman was pointing at her head the bat had left a mark. She poked at her temple and her fingers came away bloody. That was a bleeding head wound. Joy.

* * *

Delilah🌼🌈  
@wildflowerbisexual   
Reminder to my fellow forgetful Finley folk that it’s *that* time of the year again.#JustGaveMyselfAHeartAttack #StillNotAsBadAsGotham #ClownsAreScary 07:24 PM - 20 September 2015  203  17 

Brookthebank  
@brookmaclay   
Replying to @wildflowerbisexual Followed for the Skyolet fanart. What does #StillNotAsBadAsGotham mean? 07:30 PM - 20 September 2015  0  8 

Delilah🌼🌈  
@wildflowerbisexual   
Replying to @wildflowerbisexual and @brookmaclay It means we don't have Joker gas. 07:38 PM - 20 September 2015  2  9 

* * *

“I hate everything,” Delilah said. “Ow.”

“That’s healthy.” David kept dabbing at the cut on his sister’s head with disinfectant. It didn’t look too deep.

“I hate clowns, I hate this town and I hate our dad,” Delilah said.

David got out the butterfly bandages. “Two years and you won’t have to deal with any of that anymore.”

“Two what?” Delilah asked. David had to stop her from turning her working hearing aid towards him and messing up the bandage he’d already placed.

There was a pause while David finished closing the cut. _“In two years you’ll be an adult at university,”_ he signed once his hands were free.

Delilah sighed. “No more Dad and no more gang wars. That’s the dream.”

Hell yeah it was.

Delilah grabbed the remaining butterfly bandages from where David had put them on the kitchen table. “I’ll clean up. You fix my ear.”

Her other hearing aid was also sitting on the table. It was cheaper for David to fix things like hearing aids and cell phones when they were inevitably broken than it was for them to get new ones. Given twenty minutes and a cup of coffee, David would have her fully armed for school the next day.

David looked at the clock. “It’s almost midnight.”

Actually, it was almost 11:30 PM, but David had made his point. It was late and he wanted to go to sleep.

“Take it up with Dad’s stupid lawyers.” Delilah shut the first aid kit with more force than was needed. Her fingers twitched with the effort of not starting an “our sperm donor can fuck off” rant. They’d be there all night if she did.

“I’ll fix it in the morning,” David said. “Get some sleep. Let me and Mom know if you feel concussed.”

“Will do.” Delilah was halfway to the stairs when she turned around with a grimace. _“I feel concussed.”_

David sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Images used as Twitter avatars are (in order of appearance):  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hammerhead_shark.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brenton_Thwaites_TIFF_2013_(2)_(cropped).jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Labrador_Retriever_Chocolate_puppy_03.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_(31195956917).jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bisexual_Pride_Flag.png  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amber_Benson_(1053078).jpg


	2. In Which Superboy Mopes

**SUPERBOY MURDERER!**

**65 DEAD, 17 INJURED IN KRYPTONIAN RAMPAGE**

**SUPERBOY SLAUGHTERS CIVILIANS**

**SUPERMAN: NO COMMENT**

* * *

Tim Drake  
@TimDrake_Gotham   
Do you ever feel like the world's a bit sideways? 04:03 AM - 15 October 2015  307  592 

Jackson Hyde  
@notthathyde   
Replying to @TimDrake_Gotham All the time  04:38 PM - 15 October 2015  6  93 

* * *

“What happened wasn’t your fault,” Superman said. “Someone or something was controlling you. I know you, Conner, the Justice League knows you, and we all agree that you could never have done this on purpose. Even Batman agrees.”

“Batman hates me,” Superboy muttered. He looked up at his brother (“genetic donor” sounded too distant, “dad” sounded too close and genetically they were as good as brothers). “My fault or not, they’re still dead.”

“Batman doesn’t hate you,” Superman said. His statement wasn’t in any way convincing. None of what he said was convincing. Superboy had barely met the Justice League.

Superboy turned back to the newspaper headlines displayed on one of the Fortress of Solitude’s secondary computer monitors. They were all right. He was a murderer. Funny how a year ago that wouldn’t have bothered him but now it felt like Raven’s dad was standing on his chest.

“We should go somewhere,” Superman said. “You can’t stay in here forever.”

Superboy crossed his arms. “Watch me.”

Superman sighed. “Conner…”

“You and Kara are the only people on this planet I can’t hurt,” Superboy said. “The Fortress can delay me long enough for you to get here. If I leave I put everyone at risk. I’m not going anywhere.”

After a few more minutes of futile argument, Superman left to stop a bank robbery. Superboy leaned back in his chair and stared up at the slightly translucent ceiling. The Fortress wasn’t made of ice, but it looked like it was. Flat surfaces of the alien (not Kryptonian) crystalline material were reflective. Superboy could almost see his own eyes staring back at him.

There was a crash behind him. In a split second Superboy got to his feet and turned around. The girl, tangled in what looked like a glittery red pirate coat, fought her way to her feet with a scowl. A cloud of glitter settled on the floor.

“You’re not a demon,” the girl said.

Technically? No, he wasn’t a demon.

The girl looked at his suit. Her reaction to the red and black House of El crest didn’t show on her face, but her muscles tensed even as she unflinchingly met his gaze. Superboy was the one who winced. He’d torn off the arm of a girl who looked like this one, black-brown hair, brown eyes, round features. She was one of the seventeen injured.

Superboy shook his head. “How did you get here?”

“A magic mirror, I guess.” The girl frowned at the pirate coat that was hanging off of one of her arms. “I’ve got a chemistry test in like five minutes so if you don’t mind I’m gonna figure out how to get...not here.”

“We don’t have a magic mirror,” Superboy said.

The girl looked around. “Do you have a pen?”

There was a pen, a really nice refillable ballpoint pen that someone had given Superman as a gift. Superboy held it out at arm’s length and the girl took it from him. She walked over to the wall and drew something over her reflection. Superman would probably have something to say about drawing on the wall.

The girl put the pen down on the desk. “Thank you,” she said without looking away from whatever she’d drawn. Then she stepped through the wall and disappeared.

It took a few seconds for Superboy to puzzle out the gold scribble left behind. It was words written in the Latin alphabet but not in any language he knew. He ran his finger under the cursive as he sounded them out. “Ekat em emoh?”

The words glowed and Superboy fell.

* * *

Night’s Mistress🖤Raven Tribute Band  
@NightsMistressBand   
Hello Freaks and Children of Darkness! Night’s Mistress is playing TONIGHT at the POISON APPLE from 10:30PM to 12AM! See you there! #Night’sMistress #PoisonAppleNYC #TeenTitansRaven 09:01 AM - 23 October 2015  253  392 

* * *

The boat had seemed like a good choice of headquarters when Tim bought it. It had a fixed number of entryways, enough space for the whole team and the ability to get the hell out of Dodge when needed. What he hadn’t taken into account was that the team preferred to live in New York and New York had a limited number of places where _Titans Tower_ could moor. That meant that their headquarters was way more public than Tim wanted it to be. When he heard a crash in Raven’s room when he knew that Raven was at a concert, he thought that it was another kid who was too smart for their own good who had managed to get past the outer security system but got caught by the primary security (or whatever wards Raven had on her room). He hadn’t expected to find Superboy sitting on the floor surrounded by incense that had been knocked off the dresser looking very confused.

“Conner?” Tim asked. He looked at the window. Closed and locked from the inside, how Raven always left it. “You okay?”

Superboy muttered something that sounded like “magic mirror” and scoffed. Then Tim blinked and Superboy was on the other side of the room, as far away from Tim as possible while still being inside the ship and without throwing Tim out of the doorway.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Superboy said.

Tim stared. Then he raked his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Do you want me to call the team or should we figure out how to keep you out of jail first?”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Superboy repeated. He remained frozen in the far corner of Raven’s room.

This was going to take a while.

“I have Cadmus’s files on you,” Tim said. “I’m pretty sure Martian Manhunter can get rid of their mind control.”

Superboy’s stance relaxed by a minute degree. It took several minutes of Tim laying out a plan in a calm, steady tone for Superboy to stop cowering against the wall and relax completely. Tim tried to ignore how similar it was to talking down someone about to jump without a grappling line to catch them.

“Okay,” Superboy finally said. “When do we start?”

* * *

**SUPERBOY AQUITTED!**

**VERDICT: NOT GUILTY**

**MIND CONTROL, NOT ALL BAD?**

**MARTIAN TESTIFIES IN SUPERBOY TRIAL**

**WHAT SUPERMAN IS HIDING FROM YOU**

* * *

People getting beaten up by someone no one could see had become a common occurrence in Finley. The locations seemed random, the victims did not. They all had gang connections and they were all in the middle of a crime or ten when they were beaten to within an inch of their lives. No one in Finley was talking about it outside of carefully worded private messages.

Red Robin had tracked people with less.

Less than five minutes after arriving in Finley, Red Robin found three people dressed as clowns being attacked by the air. He watched from the roof of a warehouse while they were taken down. It was noisy. One guy got repeatedly slammed into the warehouse Red Robin was lurking on by gale-force wind until he didn’t get up anymore. The person wielding a chainsaw got hit in the head after their chainsaw got turned into a cat and clawed both their arms. The last member of the group got knocked to the ground and punched into unconsciousness.

The door below Red Robin opened. “You can leave now if you want,” the invisible person said in a voice that was pitched lower than theirs actually was. “I think you should let me drag these psychopaths outside and stay put until sunrise, but what do I know.”

The person or persons being spoken to evidentially agreed that barricading the warehouse was a good idea because four more restrained and/or unconscious clowns were added to the pile outside. A few seconds after the last one was dragged across the asphalt, the invisible person spoke behind Red Robin. Red Robin mentally added teleportation and/or flight to their power set.

“Is the Robin Clan splinter back?” they asked in the same pitched down voice. “Not killing bystanders doesn’t make you the good guys.”

Red Robin had done his research. He knew the Robin Clan was an occasional offshoot of the Jokerz that dressed as Robin instead of clowns. Once he’d gotten over his anger he had to figure out a way to indicate that he wasn’t affiliated with them.

He turned around. _“I’m Red Robin,”_ he signed.

There was a flicker a few feet away. Red Robin caught sight of a teenage girl dressed all in black looking surprised behind her domino mask before she became invisible again.

Red Robin grinned. _“Can we talk?”_

* * *

Delilah🌼🌈  
@wildflowerbisexual   
No, I didn’t stay up until 4AM to finish this drawing. Why do you ask? #WtWSFanart #WendytheWerewolfStalker #WendyxClaw #Clendy [Image: A drawing in coloured pencils and ink of a brunette woman hugging a redheaded man with a scar over one eye. The two of them are surrounded by a frame of flowers and swords.] 04:10 AM - 7 November 2015  132  294 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Photos used for Twitter avatars in order of appearance:  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daniel_Radcliffe_2010.jpg (by Joella Marano)  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_David_Jones.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neo-Triple-Goddess_Symbol.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bisexual_Pride_Flag.png


	3. In Which Tim Has Plans (But He's Not Telling Anyone What They Are)

Red Robin  
@teentitansrobin   
@CallMeBunker and @officalBeastBoy made me get Twitter. I will get my revenge. 10:58PM - 27 November 2015  395  504 

🌈Bunker🌈  
@CallMeBunker   
Replying to @teentitansrobin Welcome to the modern era. 11:01 PM - 27 November 2015  19  206 

That Green Kid  
@officalBeastBoy   
Replying to @teentitansrobin You're welcome 😉 11:03 PM - 27 November 2015  16  192 

* * *

Delilah🌼🌈  
@wildflowerbisexual   
Hiding from my sperm donor’s family in a closet, so here’s some Skyolet for you. #Skyolet #MerryChristmas #BlessedYule [Image: A pencil drawing of two casually dressed women wearing fluffy Santa hats kissing under the mistletoe.] 10:37 PM - 25 December 2015  143  205 

* * *

Red Robin  
@teentitansrobin   
Happy Holidays from the Teen Titans [GIF: Snow falling and cursive “Happy Holidays” being written in red.] 10:54PM - 25 December 2015  435  601 

* * *

“Did you know people call you the Ghost Witch?” Tim asked.

“I know. I’ve got another name here, in the East End, I think. I don’t know enough Spanish to be sure it’s not the same. I chose Wallflower for myself.” Delilah shrugged at the eyebrow Tim raised behind his glasses. “Names are important.”

Tim took another look around the coffee shop Delilah had suggested as a meeting place. It was crowded and noisy. Even without the bubble of unmoving air Delilah had created around them it would have been nearly impossible for someone to overhear them. Tim had a cup of café de olla that he was trying not to finish too quickly because it was the best coffee he’d ever tasted. He could see why Tia Elena’s never had any gang problems. Even the Jokerz knew better than to attack the best place in town to get caffeine.

“I’ve seen that name too,” Tim said. “ _La Tormenta de Fuego,_ the Firestorm.”

Delilah gave a close-lipped smile. “Firestorm? Neat. Too bad that name’s taken.”

“You’re in a different country. You could probably get away with it if you wanted to,” Tim said. He didn’t point out that if she accepted his offer she would be spending a lot of time in the same country as Firestorm. She already knew that.

Delilah took a sip of her hot chocolate. “I’m in.”

Tim already knew that. It was the organizing a time to meet the rest of the team that was going to be a problem.

“But my people want to meet you first,” Delilah said.

Tim didn’t know that. He was especially surprised when he went back to _Titans Tower_ with a box full of chocolate chip cookies.

* * *

Bryce Cardin, commonly called Cardin, was a low powered, self-taught mage who got most of his knowledge from PDFs he found online. He was a Nickle King and that night he was going to summon a demon to completely crush the Jokerz.

It was a good thing that Wallflower interrupted him because the poor boy was in way over his head.

There were a lot of problems with the pentangle Cardin was painstakingly drawing on the sidewalk. One, it existed when it was currently -20˚C outside with wind chill at midnight. No one wanted to be outside, why would a demon be any different? Two, three of the five points of the star ended outside of the circle that was supposed to be containing them. That meant that the pentangle would be as good at keeping a demon in as a piece of tissue paper. Wallflower had no interest in chasing around an unrestrained demon in the middle of winter and probably having to call John freaking Constantine again because exorcisms weren’t her strong suit. Stopping the summoning before it began was the best way to go.

“Esare eht klahc,” she intoned, pointing at the pentangle. The lines smudged like a giant was rubbing an eraser over them and began glowing blue for some reason. After a few more seconds, during which Cardin was frantically trying to stop his work from disappearing, the chalk was completely gone.

“What the hell?” Cardin exclaimed. His eyes darted around, looking for a person he wasn’t able to find. He picked up the sword that he was going to use during the summoning and began swinging it wildly through the air. He was going to hurt himself, but that wasn’t Wallflower’s problem.

Cardin dropped the sword to try to save the PDF printouts that went up in flames. If he’d been any kind of real wizard he could have put the fire out with a thought. Fire was almost universally easy and magic users quickly learned to rein it in or die. Cardin hadn’t gotten that far and yet he’d planned to summon a demon.

“You idiot,” Wallflower growled.

Cardin squeaked. “The Ghost Witch. Oh fu—”

Wallflower punched him in the throat and then kicked his legs out from under him. His head hit the pavement with a crack. Wallflower thought about leaving him like that. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve to get pneumonia and die, but her mom wouldn’t like it. They had an agreement about the superhero stuff. Wallflower wasn’t allowed to kill anyone, even indirectly.

Wallflower pointed at the downed teenager. “Otni a lerriuqs.”

The squirrel that Cardin turned into also squeaked. Then he turned tail and ran. He’d be fine. He’d turn human again in a day or two as long as he didn’t get himself run over.

Wallflower picked up the sword. It was a nice one, simple and classic. She’d take it back to the magic shop. The real ghost witch might have a use for it.

* * *

It was no secret that the Teen Titans were recruiting. Aqualad was the first, joining the team around Christmas when Black Manta had run him out of his home town. Then an NYU student needed their help to not be erased from existence. Once they’d solidified her history, Donna Troy had taken the name Troia and stayed with them. It was helpful for her to be around people who wouldn’t break while she was getting used to having super strength again and she and Conner spent a lot of time commiserating about being related to the faces of the Justice League. White Canary hadn’t come to them for help. She’d joined the team so she could go out and be a vigilante, which Green Arrow didn’t want her doing.

The first time Wallflower met the rest of the team, she fell through a mirror. Again. At least it was a softer landing than last time. Gym mats had a lot more give than alien crystal.

“You’re early,” Tim said as he helped her up.

Wallflower took a quick look around before replying. The gym was a lot more impressive when she wasn’t on the floor with her face in the mats. There was some serious reinforcement going on with the punching bag in the far corner.

“I have a malfunctioning magic mirror,” she said. She’d been mapping out a flight route when the stupid thing lit up and swallowed her. She was going to smash it when she got home.

The face of the other boy in the room lit up with recognition. “You’re the mirror girl.”

It took Wallflower a few seconds to put two and two together. “You’re Superboy.”

Tim smirked. “Conner, meet our new teammate.”

All of the other Teen Titans except Wonder Girl and White Canary were on board _Titans Tower_. Wallflower only knew that because Tim had mentioned it before introducing her to the rest of the team. She couldn’t keep track of anything being said a second after she got swarmed by teenage superheroes asking questions. It didn’t help that Beast Boy had turned into some sort of bird. She couldn’t lip read a bird.

“Could you back off and start from the beginning?” Wallflower asked. “Like, one at a time? I’m deaf. Did Tim mention I’m deaf?”

Silence.

“No, he didn’t,” Raven said.

“You guys didn’t give me a chance,” Tim said. Like Raven, he moved so that Wallflower could see his face while he spoke.

Beast Boy turned back into a human. “Oops.”

Now that everyone was still, Wallflower could see that the swarm had been made up of only three people, Beast Boy, Bunker and Kid Flash. It had only seemed like the entire team because Kid Flash kept moving around and seemed to be everywhere at once.

_“Again?”_ Wallflower signed.

The ASL sign for “again” was clear even to the people who didn’t know sign language. Tim stepped in to introduce everyone. Kid Flash’s name was Bart. Bunker’s was Miguel. Beast Boy’s was Gar. Donna and Celine (sans insect legs and exoskeleton) were sitting on the couch and had planned on waiting out the boys’ enthusiasm before introducing themselves. Aqualad (“Call me Jackson”) shook Wallflower’s hand and signed that he knew a little sign.

Raven studied Wallflower intently. “Are you aware that you have no soul?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” Wallflower said. “There’s a demon who hates me for it.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “None of us are even a little normal, are we?”

Gar grinned. “Normal is boring. Why would anyone want to be normal?” 

* * *

Percy Blofis  
@percyunderthesea   
Just saw @realWonderGirl, @CallMeBunker, Superboy and Troia flying by with another girl I haven’t seen before. Anyone know what’s going on? #TeenTitans #NewHero? #NYC 07:36 PM - 12 February 2016  108  98 

Flashfan the Ninth⚡  
@centralcitystudent   
Replying to @percyunderthesea SUPERBOY IS A MURDERER!!!!! #SuperboyIsAMurderer 07:37 PM - 12 February 2016  104  203 

🐯🐯BurningBright  
@Blake_Williams   
Replying to @percyunderthesea and @centralcitystudent He was being mind-controlled you hack. #SuperboyIsInnocent #MindcontrolSucks 07:42 PM - 12 February 2016  105  204 

SomeGuyWithACamera  
@someguywithacamera   
Replying to @percyunderthesea Is this her? [Image: A photo of three teenagers visible from the waist up standing in front of a brick wall. From left to right: a blonde girl in a sleeveless red bodysuit with gold bracelets around her biceps, a black-haired boy in a red and black Superman shirt, and a masked brunette girl in a black jacket. The two girls appear to be having a serious discussion. The girl in black has been circled in red with a photo editor.] 08:16 PM - 12 February 2016  205  258 

Percy Blofis  
@percyunderthesea   
Replying to @percyunderthesea and @someguywithacamera That's her. 08:23 PM - 12 February 2016  192  102 

That Green Kid  
@officalBeastBoy   
Replying to @percyunderthesea and @someguywithacamera That's my girl Wallflower! #TeenTitans #NewHero 09:03 PM - 12 February 2016  155  204 

🌈Bunker🌈  
@CallMeBunker   
Replying to @percyunderthesea We’re welcoming Wallflower to the team! *throws confetti* #TeenTitans #NewHero 09:05 PM - 12 February 2016  275  301 

GreenArrowRules  
@T.J.Zhang   
Replying to @percyunderthesea I’m away from the internet for one hour and THIS happens?! #TeenTitans #NewHero #HowDoIKeepMissingThisStuff? 09:30 PM - 12 February 2016  82  85 

Wonder Girl❤️💛  
@realWonderGirl   
Yeah, we’ve got a new girl. Don’t make it weird. #TeenTitans #NewHero 09:43 PM - 12 February 2016  309  394 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Images used as Twitter avatars in order of appearance:  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Robin_in_Canada.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Male_silhouette_Sydney_sunset_(Unsplash).jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maned_Forest_Lizard.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bisexual_Pride_Flag.png  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tursiops_truncatus_01.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Man_and_woman_laugh_in_snow_(Unsplash).jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amur_Tiger_Panthera_tigris_altaica_Eye_2112px_edit.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sony_camera_(5045082034).jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Muiderslot_5.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blond_woman_in_with_sunset_on_the_background.jpg


	4. In Which There is Only One Battle

That Green Kid  
@officalBeastBoy   
Look out for alien robots #NYC #EmergencyAlert #AlienInvasion #StayInside 04:18 AM - 13 February 2016  1532  205 

* * *

Hitting a river after falling from the height of a commercial airliner was by far the most exciting way to get the wind knocked out of you. That was what Wallflower decided anyway, after she was able to breathe again. Actually, breathing wasn’t possible underwater, unless she wanted to drown. Oops. Also, ew, because she’d landed in the Hudson River.

Wallflower felt water rushing past her and then she was able to gulp in air after coughing out a lungful of water that was probably going to make her grow a third eye or something. “Thanks, Aqualad.”

Aqualad waited until Wallflower was treading water before he let go of her arms and signed _“No problem.”_

The five-armed alien robot that had knocked Wallflower out of the sky dove at them with two sets of claws extended. Aqualad threw out an arc of water with one of his water-benders and cut the robot in half. Wallflower picked herself up with the air and got out of the river before the sparking robo-corpse touched the water. Aqualad wouldn’t have any problems with mixing water and electricity. Wallflower would.

Above the warren of New York streets, in the air and on the rooftops, the Teen Titans were fighting for their lives. A robot dove towards Bunker, all of its hands extended towards his head. Bunker was busy brick fist punching another robot and was standing above a very long drop on a floating platform made of his remaining bricks so he didn’t have any wiggle room. Wallflower intercepted the robot headed his way and lobbed a fireball at the centre of its mass. It didn’t do much more than distract it. The robots were shaped a bit like spinning tops with four arms all around and the fifth extending from their wider end. They were smart, they were hard to hit and they played for keeps.

Superboy grunted as the robot he was fighting tried to stab him in the gut and broke all the knife-like attachment at the end of one arm. Raven retaliated for him by using her magic to send the robot tumbling towards the Hudson. The water reached up and crushed it. That was two for Aqualad.

One of White Canary’s arrows stuck to the back of the robot that Bunker was fighting and exploded into a torrent of flame. That was a lot more effective than Wallflower’s tiny fireball. The robot crashed into the street below, nothing more than a burnt husk.

“I got an explosive arrow to work,” White Canary said over the comms.

“What did you hit?” Red Robin asked.

“The robot, right at the base of one of the arms,” White Canary replied.

Red Robin’s laugh sent shivers up the spine of everyone who heard it.

Troia ripped the arm off another robot. “Red, what are you planning?”

“I can’t hear a thing anyone’s saying, so I’ll assume in thirty seconds I should duck,” Wallflower said. She threw another fireball and flew out of the robot’s range. Just as she’d hoped, it followed her to an intersection where she had enough space to use the wind to batter it against the street. When she made a mistake and wasn’t able to pick the robot back up, Skitter was there to finish beating it into submission.

Wonder Girl dodged a cutting arm, threw her lasso and used it to smash the robot she was fighting into the ground. It took out a lamppost on the way down. The property damage claims were going to be so much fun for this one. 

The remaining dozen robots began to gather for a coordinated attack but they froze when a series of explosions went off. The explosives that Red Robin had placed reduced the invading force to a rain of scrap metal.

“How’d you do that?” Beast Boy exclaimed. “I didn’t see you. Did any of you see him?”

“Troia, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, make sure there aren’t any robots left,” Red Robin said. “Everyone else, let’s get started on clean-up.”

Red Robin took the fire escape he was crouching on down to street level. The rest of the team was scattered across a several hundred blocks radius. He didn’t think they’d destroyed any buildings, so the first pass wouldn’t take too long despite the area they had to cover. They’d get most of the damage fixed over the next few days, assuming nothing else came up. People would still complain but they couldn’t please everyone.

After summoning his bike with one hand and sending Batman a message with the other, Red Robin drove around in a search pattern with _Titans Tower_ as his final destination. He bagged some of the smaller robot remains. Leaving alien technology lying around where anyone could get a hold of it was asking for trouble. He saw Superboy carrying away larger pieces of the robots. Wallflower was sitting on a roof seven stories up next to a green eagle that was probably Beast Boy trying to get water out of her ears. She waved as Red Robin drove past and the eagle raised a wing tip.

It took almost an hour for the entire team to reconvene on _Titans Tower._ By that time, New York had long ago returned to the usual hustle and bustle. Little things like alien invasions couldn’t keep New Yorkers from going about their business.

“We may be out of hot water,” Delilah said when they were gathered in the living room for debriefing. She sneezed and added, “But my hearing aids survived. Thanks for the waterproofing, Tim.”

Tim nodded in acknowledgment and made a note to stock up on cold medicine. “You’re welcome. Did anyone else take a dip in the Hudson? Jackson, you don’t count.”

“Then no,” Jackson said. “Just robots. Any word on what all of that was about?”

Tim checked his phone. He had no new messages, only the one from Batman that was low on details. “Something about a planet with too many consonants in its name to be healthy to pronounce and multiple invasions. Stand by for further communication, etcetera.”

“Cool, cool.” Gar nodded. “Movie night?”

Donna and Delilah excused themselves for homework purposes, but the rest of them crowded onto the couch and the surrounding floor space, arguing over if they were going to watch _Frozen_ or _Monsters, Inc._ for the umpteenth time. Eventually they decided on _Big Hero Six_ and were actually able to get through most of the movie before people started falling asleep.

* * *

Wonder Girl❤️💛  
@realWonderGirl   
Happy (late) Singles Awareness Day! [Image: Wonder Girl, Troia and another girl with an emoji heart covering her face toasting the camera with drinks in disposable coffee cups.] 07:45 PM - 20 February 2016  399  475 

🐯🐯BurningBright  
@Blake_Williams   
Replying to @realWonderGirl Aren't you dating Superboy? 08:04 PM - 20 February 2016  54  298 

Wonder Girl❤️💛  
@realWonderGirl   
Replying to @realWonderGirl and @Blake_Williams It's complicated 10:03 PM - 21 February 2016  209  38 

* * *

Conner knocked on Tim’s door.

“Do we have any plans this Friday?” he asked when Tim told him to come in.

Tim looked up from his tablet. “Which ‘we’?”

“We the team,” Conner said. “All of us. Delilah’s mom invited us for dinner.” He held up his phone as evidence.

There was silence. Tim blinked as his brain processed that sentence. 

“Huh,” he said eventually. He had to wonder if Ms. Kamau knew what she was signing up for.

Conner’s phone lit up as another message came in. “Delilah says ‘Please say no’, which kind of makes me want to say we can go even more.” Conner grinned.

“Tell her we’ll bring food,” Tim said. Expecting the average household to singlehandedly feed a speedster was cruel and unusual.

It snowed in Finley on Friday. They didn’t have to slog through it since Raven was able to teleport them directly into Ms. Kamau’s living room, but Bart spent a lot of time watching the flakes falling past the windows.

“We don’t get snow in the future,” Bart said when Miguel tried to get his attention. “It’s different here than in New York.”

“ _Si, hermano,_ but you’re being rude,” Miguel said.

Bart turned and saw Ms. Kamau being greeted by the rest of the team. “Oops.”

David got home ten minutes after they arrived. He stared at the crowd of superheroes and seemed not to notice when blood dripped from the arm he was holding to his chest.

“Oh, that’s today,” David said. “Hi.”

Delilah descended on him with a flurry of sharp signs. _“What the hell happened to you?”_

“I got stabbed a little.” David grimaced. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Stay with your friends.”

Delilah glared but didn’t say anything as her brother gingerly shrugged off his coat, kicked off his boots and headed for the kitchen.

“That’s not normal, right?” Bart asked.

“Nope,” Cassie said.

“Yes,” Tim said. “They’ve got a gang problem here.”

Conner raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t something that had come up in conversation. Then again, they didn’t talk about Cassie’s dad or Donna’s son or Solstice being trapped in the future or Conner being mind-controlled to murder a bunch of people either. 

Maybe they should think about taking the Justice League up on that offer to find them a therapist.

Once David had bandaged his arm there were thirteen of them who had to fit around one table. They didn’t have much space but somehow no one hit anyone else in the face once during the entire meal. Well, Gar kicked Bart who kicked Miguel, but that was intentional. Jackson kept blushing every time David talked to him and Gar had to pass that news along.

Delilah was also blushing. Her mom had broken out the embarrassing childhood stories.

“So, you like cats?” Conner said with a smirk.

Delilah groaned. _“It was one day.”_ Pretend to be a cat for one day when you’re five and the good part of your family never lets you live it down.

The multiple discussions that were going on didn’t pause until after dessert, when Tim’s phone vibrated frantically. He looked at the screen and grimaced.

“There’s a slime creature in Times Square,” Tim said. “Looks like it could turn into a hostage situation.”

Every superhero in the room jumped to their feet. Delilah ran upstairs the second Tim finished explaining the situation in sign and came back a minute later dressed in her black jacket and pants and pressing her mask over her eyes.

“Thank you for dinner, Ms. Kamau,” Donna said.

“Yes, thank you,” Tim said. “Raven, take us back to the ship.”

Raven nodded and the group disappeared in a wave of darkness.

David and his mom looked at each other.

“They’re good kids,” he said.

“I’m just glad she has friends now,” she said.

Encouraging.

* * *

That Green Kid  
@officalBeastBoy   
Art reflects life (except Sarlot is cooler and not trying to end the world) [Images: A drawing of Cthulhu compared to a photograph of Aqualad standing next to a green, scaly humanoid with tentacles covering their face who is two feet taller than him and flashing a peace sign at the camera with a webbed hand.] 12:56 PM - 1 March 2016  669  904 

* * *

Conner hit the mat with a thud. He didn’t even bother groaning, just stared at the ceiling with an expression that said he was deeply regretting his life choices.

“And that’s ten wins for Tim,” Cassie said.

“I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself,” Conner said. Tim was ten for ten in mock fights against Conner won.

Tim smirked. “Hope?”

“An unwillingness to admit that it’s impossible to beat someone trained by Batman?” Cassie suggested.

Conner lifted a hand off the mat and pointed in Cassie’s direction. “Cassie’s right.”

“You’ve got the strength,” Tim said. “You just have to work on your technique.” He held out a hand to help Conner to his feet. Conner took it.

Cassie was sparring with Tim next. She took Conner’s place on the mats and waited for Tim to make the first move. That was the only way to have a snowball’s chance in hell of not losing horribly to him. Otherwise, Tim had the entire fight mapped out from the first punch.

While Tim and Cassie chased each other around the gym, Conner sat down in the corner next to the punching bag. He grimaced as he drank the protein shake that Gar had been experimenting with and insisted everyone try. This iteration tasted like cabbage and rotten eggs.

The sound of the door hitting the wall drew Conner’s attention away from the fight. Delilah stormed in and headed straight for the punching bag. Halfway there she stopped and took a detour to pick hand wraps out of the storage cabinets Bart and Tim had labelled during a shared night of insomnia.

“What happened?” Conner asked.

Delilah wrapped her hands with jerky movements. “My dad and his wife.”

Conner stood. “I’ll hold the bag.”

Delilah nodded her thanks. Then the gym was filled with the noises of the punching bag getting pounded to a pulp and Tim winning his spar with Cassie for the third time that month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Images used as Twitter avatars in order of first appearance:  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maned_Forest_Lizard.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blond_woman_in_with_sunset_on_the_background.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amur_Tiger_Panthera_tigris_altaica_Eye_2112px_edit.jpg


	5. In Which There is a Demon, a Ghost and Zombies

Delilah🌼🌈  
@wildflowerbisexual   
If *people* could not shoot *fireworks* while I’m studying for finals that would be great thanks. #StillNotAsBadAsGotham #ClownsAreScary #CrownsAreScary 10:04 PM - 15 June 2016  104  53 

* * *

“Raven, I hate your brother,” Beast Boy grumbled. “He couldn’t have picked a different night to invade?”

“He was summoned, Gar,” White Canary reminded him. “He didn’t decide to invade.”

“I hope we’re not too late,” Aqualad muttered.

“Everyone ready?” Red Robin asked. There were nods all around. “Let’s go.”

When Raven teleported them to her brother’s location they landed in the middle of what would commonly be referred to as a huge mess. Wonder Girl, Troia, Kid Flash and Superboy had gone ahead and were clearing civilians (and gangsters, couldn’t discriminate when there were lives immediately at risk) out of reach of the giant red demon that was tearing through Finley’s southern residential area. 

“You’re late!” Superboy shouted at them as he flew over their heads carrying a scrawny teenage boy by the back of his shirt. “Distract him would you?” 

While the rest of the Teen Titians began their attack on the son of Trigon, Superboy dropped Cardin next to Constantine and left it to the thoroughly pissed off exorcist to browbeat the idiot into submission. Then he flew up and punched Raven’s brother in one of his six glowing yellow eyes.

“Surround him,” Constantine ordered as the red demon swiped at Wonder Girl with his foot long claws.

He raised his hands and started the banishment. Cardin shakily followed his lead, in English no less, and then Wallflower jumped in, half a beat behind due to her backwards magic but quickly catching up. A web of yellow light stretched between their hands, encircling the son of Trigon as they spoke in unison. They’d had about five seconds to put this plan together, so really it was a miracle they managed that much. 

“Desruc nomed, esaec ot evieced namuh serutaerc,” Wallflower said with a tone of confidence she didn’t quite feel.

“vade, maledicte, contremisce et effuge,” Constantine continued.

He flinched slightly as the son of Trigon backhanded one of the kid costumes—what was his name, Bunker?— thorough the wall of the nearby elementary school. The kid barely got a shield up in time. The town was lucky that Cardin had decided to be his old idiotic self on a Friday night. They didn’t even know which son of Trigon he’d summoned. 

Cardin, who was stuttering as he intoned, “We invoke by us the sacred and terrible name—”

The son of Trigon struck.

Shaking off Superboy and Beast Boy and completely ignoring the attacks from Aqualad, Red Robin Skitter and White Canary, he drove his hand into the ground, spearing Wallflower through the heart with one of his claws. He grinned as the spell weakened and as easily as a human squashing a bug flicked his fingers and sent Wallflower tumbling streets away towards the church steeple. Superboy roared. In one move he flew up, punched the son of Trigon in the jaw and flew after Wallflower’s falling body. White Canary let out a yelp that didn’t stop her from firing arrows into the son of Trigon’s lowest two eyes. Wonder Girl flew towards them and threw her lasso at the son of Trigon, preventing him from grabbing Constantine.

Cardin’s eyes widened. He’d seen people die before (he’d killed people before), but not like that. His shock caused him to yell the last line of the spell that Constantine had scrawled on the back of a receipt and shoved into his hands, “—of the son of Trigon at which those down below tremble!” and the broken web strengthened tenfold. 

The web of light wrapped around the son of Trigon, burning him like Wonder Girl’s lasso did. It tightened and the son of Trigon yelled soundlessly. The light brightened and the web turned into a vortex that sucked him away.

Constantine looked at Cardin and bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. “I’ve some things to say to you, genius.” 

* * *

Superboy caught Wallflower just before she hit the ground. Blood splashed onto the asphalt. The football-sized hole in her chest was dark and messy.

Superboy squeezed his eyes shut. “Del…”

She had no heartbeat. She wasn’t breathing.

She moved.

Superboy’s eyes shot open just as Wallflower whispered, **“Esiugsid fles,”** and then, “Kon?” blearily. Her eyelids fluttered.

**HOPE. WILL. COMPASSION. LOVE.**

“Delilah!” Superboy didn’t move, too afraid of jostling her and making her injuries worse. He spoke into his comm. “Delilah’s alive! Bring Raven. We’re behind the church.”

“We’re on our way,” Red Robin said quickly.

“Kon?” Wallflower asked again.

Superboy didn’t think she could hear him, but he kept talking all the same. “Hey, I’m here. It’ll be alright, okay? Just hold on.”

**COMPASSION.**

Wallflower put her hand on Superboy’s arm and slowly moved it over his heart. Her hand was cold even through her gloves and his suit.

“Trust you,” she said softly.

Her hand went limp as her breath became shallow. Then her fingers curled and she shoved her hand into his chest.

A bright white light flared and Wallflower was thrown from Superboy’s arms. When he’d blinked away the spots in his vision, Superboy saw her standing several feet in front of him with a wicked snarl on her face.

The illusion she had been wearing peeled away, revealing rotting grey skin and shrivelled eyes. A heavy black ring featuring a triangle with bars coming out of one of its sides was on one of her fingers. The same symbol became visible on the back of her jacket when she spun around and took to the sky seconds before the other Teen Titans arrived.

“Constantine’s handling—” Wonder Girl started to say, but then she stopped as her eyes followed Wallflower’s flight. “What is that? Where’s Wallflower?”

Superboy pointed at the black and grey figure disappearing to the south. Wonder Girl immediately flew into the sky and gave chase. Superboy hurried after her. Neither of them waited to see if the other Titans were following them. They knew that they were.

“Be careful, everyone,” Superboy said slowly. “I think she just tried to kill me.” 

“You’re telling us that now?” Wonder Girl exclaimed. She threw the Silent Armour’s burning lariat and it covered the space left between her and Wallflower.

“Don’t!” Superboy shouted, but he was too late.

The life-draining lasso wrapped around Wallflower, jerking her to a stop. 

Wallflower looked down at the glowing lasso pinning her arms to her sides and laughed. **“Parwnu eht ossal dna dnes ti kcab,”** she said.

The lasso unwrapped itself from around her and went flying back towards Wonder Girl, who just barely missed getting hit in the eye by the end of it.

Then Wallflower, looking no worse for wear than she already had been, intoned, **“Ekam em elbisivni,”** and vanished from sight.

Since she didn’t have a heartbeat anymore even Superboy wasn’t able to track where she was. Something Superboy did hear though was the buzzing of Red Robin’s cell phone as it received a call. He tried not to listen in but he was sure he heard Batman’s voice before Red Robin hung up.

“This is happening in Gotham too,” Red Robin said sombrely. “The dead are coming back to life.” 

“Do you think that Wallflower’s headed there?” Beast Boy asked as he wheeled around Red Robin’s head as a red tailed hawk.

“Maybe,” Red Robin said.

“Don’t you have trackers on all of us or something?” White Canary asked him sarcastically.

“Maybe,” Red Robin said. 

White Canary gave Red Robin a sidelong glance from her spot next to him on Bunker’s floating platform of bricks. “You do, don’t you?”

“Yes,” everyone else chimed.

“Then _track_ her!” White Canary said.

 **“No need for that,”** Wallflower said as she grabbed Wonder Girl from behind and whisked her away from the other Titans.

**FEAR.**

**“Oh Cassie, I know you never liked me much, so this is going to be easy for me.”**

White Canary screamed. She was the youngest Titan so she could be forgiven for freaking out when she saw her teammate’s heart get ripped out by an invisible hand.

 **POWER LEVELS 0.02%**.

Wonder Girl’s body tumbled towards the ground.

 **CASSANDRA SANDSMARK OF EARTH, RISE!**

* * *

“I’m not burning my friends!” Beast Boy protested.

Batman scowled and shoved the flamethrower he was holding out into Beast Boy’s arms. “Then you’ll die.”

“Cassie did talk about being cremated,” Superboy said flatly as he helped White Canary shrug on the pack of her flamethrower. After he finished, Red Robin grabbed his arm and pulled him to a corner of the Bat weapons locker that Batman and Nightwing had met them at when they arrived in Gotham.

“I’m not going to ask you if you’re okay—” Red Robin said.

“Good,” Superboy said.

“—but can you handle this?” 

“I have to,” Superboy said. 

“Time to move out,” Batman ordered. “You kids stay behind me.”

None of the Titans argued with him, though Aqualad had to shoot White Canary a look to stop her from opening her mouth. They made it barely ten feet from the weapons locker when the Black Lanterns swooped down on them.

“Black Lanterns” was what Earth’s Lanterns, Green and Red, had called them. The League alerts they had sent all said that the dead were rising because of black power rings and they were working on in. Guy Gardener had added to his “Please try not to die” which was so very encouraging of him.

Wallflower and Wonder Girl had been joined by three others. There was a man and a woman in acrobats’ suits turned black and silver hovering over their heads. A boy flew straight at Batman, silver cape flowing behind him. 

**“Nice toys, _dad_ ,” **said Robin, who had died the year before. **“You’d never have let me play with those.”**

**LOVE.**

Robin grinned and dove towards them, reaching for Batman’s heart.

Batman burned him.

Flames engulfed the reanimated corpse of Robin and Batman didn’t take his finger off the trigger until the black ring clinked on the asphalt.

 **“Well, that wasn’t nice,”** Wallflower said.

Wonder Girl cracked her knuckles. **“Finally something we agree on.”**

White Canary leveled her flamethrower on them. “St-stay back,” she ordered, grimacing at herself as soon as she stuttered.

**FEAR. RAGE. WILL.**

Wonder Girl tilted her head. **“You know, I don’t think we will. Wallflower?”**

 **“Our best friends want us to stay away from them?”** Wallflower shook her head. **“What’s wrong with this picture? Oh, wait.** **Ekam em elbisivni.”**

She vanished. Wonder Girl took this as her cue to create a version of her lasso with her Black Lantern Ring and begin attacking the Titans. The two acrobats zeroed in on Nightwing, who broke off from the group to avoid hitting his allies with fire. Meanwhile, Robin’s burnt husk reformed and the Black Lantern launched his own attack on the Dark Knight.

The group of heroes got split up fairly quickly. Wonder Girl herded White Canary, Bunker and Aqualad down the street while Robin and Batman battled among the rooftops. Raven, Skitter, Kid Flash and Troia found themselves fighting side by side with Nightwing against the acrobats. Superboy and Red Robin were both grabbed by their throats and flown off by Wallflower while Beast Boy flapped after them.

Wallflower dropped the two boys on the roof of an apartment building. Both of them landed on their feet, gasping. **“Yats no eht foor,”** she ordered. **“I have a little birdie to take care of.”**

They stayed on the roof, but that didn’t mean they didn’t fight. Robin imbedded four birdarangs in Wallflower’s torso before she decided that she may as well deal with him before hunting down the flea-sized Beast Boy. Of course, at that moment Beast Boy took his African crowned eagle form and tore her head from her neck.

**FEAR.**

“I didn’t mean to do that!” Beast Boy shouted as he flew frantically from Wallflower’s hunting body and became a speck in the sky.

Exit, pursued by headless corpse. 

“Do you know how long this spell’s going to last?” Red Robin asked Superboy. Outside of Raven and Wallflower, Superboy probably knew the most about magic. He was the one Wallflower messaged about new spells she was trying, for some reason none of the other Titans understood.

“No,” Superboy said. “That’s not Delilah anymore. I don’t know how powerful a Black Lantern’s magic is.”

Wallflower could have unlimited power and without Raven they couldn’t do anything about it.

“Very powerful,” a woman’s voice whispered.

Superboy and Red Robin spun around. Standing behind them was a woman about Red Robin’s height dressed all in white with the hood of her cloak pulled far up over her head, hiding her face. Red Robin immediately noticed that the lights of the Gotham skyline were shining through her like she was made of tissue paper.

“But so is mine.” The woman pointed at them and spoke works in a language that neither of them understood. The air around Red Robin and Superboy grew cold for a split second. Superboy experimentally kicked off the roof and hovered between Red Robin and the stranger.

“Why did you do that?” Superboy asked. “Who are you?”

“I’m here to help, Conner,” the woman said. “You can call me Trivia.”

Superboy scowled. “How do you know my name?”

The woman sighed. “We were family once. You won’t remember. And don’t say you’ve never met me. That’d be a waste of time.”

Red Robin and Superboy looked at each other. Neither of them said that they’d never met her, though they were both sure they hadn’t.

“How do we know we can trust you?” Red Robin asked.

“Isn’t a ghost better than a flesh-eating super powered zombie?” Trivia shot back.

Was that a trick question? Superboy shrugged and Red Robin nodded slightly.

“Exactly,” Trivia said. “And I have a plan. Let’s go find your friends.”

* * *

Trivia was not an easy ghost to keep track of. Flying across the city, the lights below made her almost invisible. A few times she had to fly back to Superboy and Red Robin to lead them in the right direction when they lost sight of her. Despite that they made good time and it wasn’t long before they saw the tongues of flame from Batman’s flamethrowers.

The five Black Lanterns had regrouped. Wallflower’s head had been reattached, her hands were covered with blood and Beast Boy was nowhere in sight, which was definitely a bad sign. Robin and Batman were still fighting with Batman now being backed by White Canary. Troia had a bleeding wound on her arm that looked like a bite mark but that didn’t stop her from shooting at the acrobats with her dented flamethrower.

Trivia motioned for Red Robin and Superboy to stop just as Wonder Girl lassoed Bunker and yanked him off his floating brick platform, which broke apart and hit Aqualad in the head.

“On second thought, help the team,” Trivia ordered. “I’ll take care of the Black Lanterns.”

Red Robin’s flamethrower had broken when he’d gotten half strangled by Wallflower. In lieu of fire he used the edges of his glider to smash Robin’s head and give White Canary a chance to burn him. Superboy used his telekinesis to push the acrobats into Nightwing and Troia’s lines of fire when the acrobats touched the ground. While the boys joined the battle, Trivia floated down and looked between Wallflower and Wonder Girl. She could do this the easy way or the less easy way. Sending a quick prayer to Hecate and any other gods who cared enough to be paying attention to Earth, she chose the less easy way.

Wonder Girl’s black light constructs of armour and lasso dissolved when Trivia possessed the Black Lantern. Bunker and Aqualad looked confused when Wonder Girl turned on Wallflower, tackling her to the ground and plunging a hand into her chest. It didn’t help that Aqualad was seeing double.

Everyone saw Wonder Girl’s eyes glowing white as she spoke words none of them could understand. Trivia put as much power into the spell as she could and the white light burned brighter, eventually growing so strong that everyone had to look away and close their eyes.

The Black Lantern rings burned.

Superboy was the first one able to turn back when the light started fading. He saw Wonder Girl and Wallflower laying on the asphalt looking like themselves again, no rotting flesh, no sunken eyes, no black and silver costumes. A breeze whispered past his ear and then he heard their hearts beating.

They were alive.

“What just happened?” Aqualad asked.

“I don’t know,” Bunker replied.

Red Robin landed beside Batman, who was holding the scrap of cape that he’d torn from Robin during their fight and looking at the place where the Black Lantern version of his son had turned to dust. Red Robin put a hand on his mentor’s arm and Batman looked down at him.

“It’s time for your team to go home,” Batman said gruffly.

Red Robin looked around at his teammates. Bunker was apologizing to Aqualad for conking him in the head and Superboy, Raven and White Canary were dropping to the ground to tend to Wonder Girl and Wallflower. Skitter was wrapping a bandage around Troia’s arm and hissing at her in a concerned tone. The absence of Beast Boy left a gaping hole in the scene.

Three of the eleven Titans who’d been fighting the Son of Trigon had died. Red Robin almost didn’t want to see what had happened back in New York.

“Titans,” Red Robin called, “time to head back to the ship.”

* * *

A lot had happened in New York.

Superboy heard the hundreds of alarms that were going off in the city from miles away. The other Titans heard them a few seconds before the New York skyline was visible from the direction they were flying in from. The giant fiery dragon that was destroying a building, Papa Midnite’s building, not that any of the teens knew that, was also pretty easy to spot.

White Canary swore loudly in Japanese. Next to her on his floating platform of bricks, Bunker kept his short curse to a more reasonable volume.

“I should take care of that,” Raven said.

“I’ll help,” Kid Flash offered.

Red Robin nodded. “Go. Watch your backs, stay on comms. Everyone else, back to the ship.”

Raven flew her and Kid Flash towards the definitely magical fire while the rest of them kept heading to _Titans Tower._ When they landed, Superboy, Skitter and Aqualad hurried Wonder Girl, Troia and Wallflower below decks to the infirmary. Red Robin told White Canary to call Green Arrow to tell him that she was alright and then he went over to Bunker, who was standing at the ship’s prow.

“How are you?” Red Robin asked.

Bunker forced a smile. “I’m just super now, _hermano_. Can’t make any promises for later.”

Red Robin patted Bunker on the shoulder. Then he headed down to the infirmary. With Wallflower unconscious and Kid Flash helping Raven with the dragon fire, he was the only one who had first aid experience suitable for vigilantism. 

Troia was sitting in a folding chair while Celine cleaned out the wound on her arm. The metal of the side of the chair that she was gripping with her other hand had bent under her fingers. What Red Robin could see of the wound looked bad. The bite marks were surrounded by grey skin and branching black veins.

“What are you using?” Red Robin asked.

“Hydrogen peroxide,” Celine said. “Worry about the coma patients, I’ve got this.”

“They’re not in comas,” Superboy said.

They wouldn’t be able to tell either way without medical equipment that they didn’t have on board, but Wonder Girl and Wallflower looked like they were sleeping. That they had two beds in the infirmary was finally coming in handy.

“I’m going to try to contact the League and the Lanterns for a status update,” Red Robin said. “I’ll check if the Lanterns know what to do about injuries.”

The infirmary started to empty out after Red Robin left. Celine and Troia decided against doing more than disinfecting Troia’s wound because they didn’t know how to treat it. They left to see if Red Robin had learned anything from the Lanterns in the thirty seconds he’d been gone. Aqualad stayed for a bit longer before he couldn’t ignore that he’d been fighting around open flames anymore and went to take a shower so he wouldn’t pass out from dehydration. That left Superboy to wait for Wallflower and Wonder Girl to wake up.

If they woke up.

Superboy told his brain to shut up.

Emiko joined him after half an hour. She turned down his offer to take his chair in favour of pacing along the wall of storage cabinets. Superboy heard her muttering about idiot brothers.

Wonder Girl and Wallflower woke up at the same time. Wonder Girl turned her head and blinked awake as her cheek brushed the pillow. Wallflower breathed in sharply and her eyes shot open as a spell died on her lips. They both placed a hand over their heart and, since their costumes had emerged unscathed from the entire mess, were clearly surprised by the lack of blood and punctures and/or demon claws. 

“How are you feeling?” Emiko asked tentatively.

Wallflower sat up slowly while Wonder Girl tried to roll right out of bed and ended up propping herself up against the wall before sitting down hard on the edge of the mattress. 

“Dizzy,” Wonder Girl muttered. “Cold.”

Wallflower looked back and forth between Emiko and Superboy. Then she felt behind her ears and swore. “Where are my hearing aids? What happened?”

“Um,” Emiko said. “I’ll get some blankets?” She looked at Superboy and darted out of the room.

 _“White Canary is getting blankets. We’ll catch you up when she gets back.”_ Superboy signed. He turned to Wallflower. _“Your hearing aids are probably in G-o-t-h-a-m.”_

“Gotham?” Wonder Girl asked.

Wallflower flinched. “Do we want to know why we were in Gotham?”

Superboy shook his head. They definitely wouldn’t want to know why they were in Gotham, but they needed to know.

Emiko returned with a stack of blankets that Wonder Girl and Wallflower burrowed into like it was still the middle of winter. Then she and Superboy slowly began telling their teammates what had happened with the Son of Trigon and the Black Lanterns. How Wallflower and Wonder Girl had died. How Kid Flash and Red Robin found what was left of Beast Boy’s body. The only thing that was left out, by Superboy since Emiko didn’t know about it, was the involvement of the ghost, Trivia.

Wonder Girl’s eyes flickered towards Wallflower for a second. “Is that all?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Emiko sounded close to hysterical. Her heart rate was skyrocketing.

Wonder Girl paused before shaking her head and pulling her blankets more tightly around her. “Never mind.”

Emiko took a few breaths and managed to calm down. “Okay. Okay. Is anyone hungry?” She finger spelled her question, hesitating over the shape of N for a moment but getting it right in the end.

“Not really,” Wallflower said. “I should let my mom know where I am.”

Wonder Girl groaned. “My mom is going to freak.”

* * *

Cassie ended the call with her mom. She hadn’t mentioned anything about dying but her mom had still freaked out. Someone had gotten video of Beast Boy’s death that was quickly making its way around the internet. Because of course the response to seeing a superhero getting killed was to film it. Cassie dropped her phone on the bed next to her and got her freezing hands back under the blankets she was wrapped in to continue defrosting.

On the other bed in the infirmary, Delilah was still typing away on her phone. Cassie watched as she frowned, typed faster and then stabbed at the screen with one finger.

“I’m fine,” Delilah said clearly. “My hearing aids are MIA and probably broken, but I’m fine. I’m staying at Tim’s. Love you.”

 _“OK?”_ Cassie asked when Delilah looked up from her phone.

“It’s fine. It’s...fine.” Delilah sighed. “Do you have...stuff in your head that isn’t supposed to be there?”

“You too?” Cassie exclaimed. She quickly repeated herself in ASL. _“New memories?”_

Delilah nodded. “Us but not us?”

 _“Yes.”_ Cassie hesitated for a moment. _“Your point of view.”_

“It is?” Delilah laughed. “No, that makes sense, but it means that Black Lanterns killed me last time.”

Cassie didn’t have that in the memories she’d woken up with. The clearest memory she had was of sitting on a couch with people who looked like Tim, Raven, Gar, Conner, Bart and herself, watching her other self laughing at whatever they were watching on TV. It came with overwhelming warmth that she felt down to her bones.

 _“I don’t dislike you,”_ Cassie said.

Delilah frowned. “That didn’t make sense. The blankets are in the way.”

 _“I don’t hate you,”_ Cassie said.

Delilah winched. “Why do you have to say that?”

 _“When you were dead you said that I hated you,”_ Cassie said slowly. _“That isn’t true. We just aren’t close.”_

Delilah was silent. Cassie would have been worried that she hadn’t signed correctly but Delilah would have told her if she had. She waited for the other girl to collect her thoughts.

“Are any of us close?” Delilah blanched. “Not that we’re not close but we aren’t...There are groups and little overlap. We aren’t like our other selves.”

Cassie nodded. She could see that. Heck, this was the longest conversation she and Delilah had ever had outside of a combat situation.

They stayed wrapped up in blankets until Cassie couldn’t ignore her growling stomach anymore. Delilah still wasn’t hungry but she didn’t want to think about why that was. They followed their noses to the kitchen, where Miguel was frying a mountain of scrambled eggs.

“Take what you want,” Miguel said. “There’s enough for everyone.”

Emiko and Jackson were already eating at the end of the counter. Cassie grabbed a plate and claimed the last barstool while Delilah dug through the fridge for something to drink. Ginger ale seemed like a good idea.

Wind whipped through the kitchen and more than half of the eggs Miguel had cooked disappeared. Kid Flash didn’t stick around after getting food. None of them tried to stop him. He was gone before most of them realized he’d been there. They didn’t talk until Tim sent a message to the group chat asking everyone to meet in the living room.

“Three heroes dead, twelve wounded,” Tim said. “All other Black Lanterns disappeared the same time they did in Gotham.”

Delilah adjusted the volume on the new hearing aids Tim had given her. They were more sensitive than her probably-destroyed ones, even with David’s modifications. “Who else is dead?” she asked.

“Hawkman and Stargirl,” Tim said. Not heroes they’d worked with before, but ones they’d all heard of. 

“There were twenty people injured in the fire,” Raven said. “No deaths.”

“But there was that zombie guy,” Bart said.

“Bald, bone necklace?” Delilah asked.

Bart nodded.

“That’s Papa Midnite. Don’t worry about him.” Even with her and Raven, Papa Midnite and the Teen Titans moved in completely different circles. He wouldn’t bother with them unless they got in his way.

“This isn’t over,” Cassie said. “The Black Lanterns, they’re not gone.”

That statement led to exclamations of alarm that had Delilah turning her hearing aids off entirely. Tim gave her a thumbs-up when the noise had died down.

“How do you know that?” Tim asked.

“I...don’t know.” Cassie turned to Delilah. “Do you know?”

Delilah frowned as she ran through the new memories in her head in what she thought was chronological order. “There weren’t any White Lanterns. But magic is part of Life so maybe it is over?”

“You’re the witch,” Cassie said. “Shouldn’t you be able to answer that?”

“I’ve only been studying magic for two years,” Delilah said. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Emiko said there was white light, so maybe?” Cassie shrugged. “White Lanterns use white light, right?”

The other Titans were watching the conversation like it was a tennis match.

“Does anyone know what they’re talking about?” Jackson asked at last.

“Trivia,” Conner said.

Both the seeming randomness of his statement and the fact that Conner hadn’t said a word since the meeting started saw everyone turning to look at him, even Tim, who knew exactly what he was talking about.

“You think so?” Tim asked Conner.

Conner nodded. Then he shook his head. “Maybe? I don’t know. She did something.”

Emiko pointed at Tim and Conner. “Does anyone know what _they’re_ talking about?”

Cassie crossed her arms. “Is there something we should know?”

Busted.

Tim filled the rest of the team in on how a ghost, Trivia, had destroyed the Black Lantern rings and brought Cassie and Delilah back to life.

“That fills in a few holes,” Cassie said. “Trivia left some memories behind when she resurrected us. We think they’re Delilah’s.”

The majority of the team needed to take a few seconds to reboot their brains. Tim wasn’t one of them because nothing could faze a Bat.

“Are they memories you forgot?” Donna asked Delilah.

Delilah didn’t know how to answer that. If she’d forgotten the memories then that meant that she’d forgotten remembering them and forgotten forgetting them because she didn’t have any holes in her memory or reasons for memories to go missing. Since she didn’t remember forgetting or remembering them, she couldn’t be sure that she’d forgotten them.

“I don’t think so,” Delilah decided to say before she could overthink it too much. “Not this me, a different me. Black Lanterns killed her.”

“Black Lanterns killed her even though this is the first time anyone has ever seen them?” Celine asked with a tone of severe disbelief.

Jackson held up one hand and began counting off on his fingers, “Parallel universe, universal mind-wipe, universal reset, other options that you should know about because you’re the scientist.”

Celine sighed. “Point taken.”

“So, what do we know?” Emiko asked. “If this Trivia person gave us information on the Black Lanterns, can we trust it?”

“Is it even real?” Bart asked.

“It’s real,” Delilah said. “I’m sure of it.” Cassie nodded in agreement.

“Let’s figure out what information we have,” Tim said. “We’ll share what we can with the Justice League and make our own preparations. As of now we’re ahead of those monsters. Let’s try to keep it that way.” 

* * *

“Get down!” Raven shouted.

All of the Titans that hadn’t already been knocked down dropped to the street. As soon as they were out of harm’s way, Raven let loose streams of fire that turned the swarm of Black Lanterns hounding them into cinders. They had gotten, what, a day to prepare? Less? It was no wonder they were getting chewed up and spit out, metaphorically speaking. Thankfully, none of the Teen Titans had died yet.

“Does anyone know where we are?” Wallflower asked after Wonder Girl and Superboy used some of Raven’s brief respite to free her from super strong synthetic webbing that a trick arrow from one of the Black Lanterns had trussed her in.

It only felt like they had been chased across half the United States. When Red Robin checked his GPS he told them that they were in Gateway City in California, so really they’d been chased across the _entire_ United States.

Bunker spat blood onto the ground. “Well, at least there isn’t anyone outside.”

Their foreknowledge, courtesy of Trivia, had civilians hiding in bunkers and bank vaults, anywhere where it would be too much of a bother for Black Lanterns to try to get at them when there were emotional superheroes running around. 

“At least,” White Canary grumbled. She gestured towards the dozen piles of ashes that were rebuilding themselves into charred corpses. “Anyone else feel like throwing them into an active volcano and seeing what happens?”

Skitter hissed in agreement. Donna sighed as she retrieved her sword.

Aqualad raised his hand. “I don’t do lava well, I’m just pointing that out.”

“We need more white light,” Wallflower muttered. _“Dnes eht sgnir otni eht nus.”_

The swarm of Black Lantern rings that had been flying in from behind Wonder Girl vanished. Wallflower flexed her fingers and gritted her teeth. A dead feeling was replacing the pain that had been shooting through her hands. She’d been using magic for too long. Without a soul to use for power it had to take a physical toil, but she’d never gone beyond pain before.

“Batman found Dove. What more white light can we get without White Lantern rings?” Bunker asked as he punched the most fully reformed Black Lantern with a purple brick fist.

Wallflower didn’t know, but that didn’t change that they were slowly limping towards the point of no return. They were tiring and the Black Lanterns didn’t stop coming. 

“How’s your arm, Troia?” Red Robin asked.

Troia looked down at the black veins branching out from beneath the bandage that were creeping up to her shoulder. “Not much worse than the last time you asked.”

White Canary squinted into the distance. “How many people did you know who died during this ‘culling’ exactly?”

“Too many,” Superboy said at once. “Why…oh no.” He’d looked in the same direction as White Canary and seen clearly that two more Black Lanterns were headed their way.

“What?” Wallflower asked as she dodged an attack from wolf-shaped Beast Boy.

“More Black Lanterns incoming,” White Canary warned.

Superboy hit four of the Black Lanterns they were currently fighting with his heat vision. He turned to do the same to the newcomers only to find that they had already landed and taken Wallflower and Wonder Girl out of the fight.

“Catherine?” Wallflower whispered.

**FEAR. RAGE.**

“Dad?” Wonder Girl choked out. “You’re dead?”

**FEAR. RAGE. LOVE.**

**“I promised you I’d come back, sweetheart,”** Wonder Girl’s dad said softly. **“I promised I would come back for you. I saw a chance and I took it.”**

“You’re not like the others?” Wonder Girl asked.

**HOPE.**

Her dad shook his head. A slow smile spread over her face and a tear ran down her cheek.

“Like I’m going to believe that.” She lashed out and tore her father’s head from his shoulders. “Raven!”

A wave of flames from the daughter of Trigon washed over the corrupted corpse of Lennox Sandsmark, burning it to ashes.

Wonder Girl gulped down the sobs that wanted to burst from her chest. “Dad.”

“Catherine,” Wallflower whispered again. She stared uncomprehendingly at the Black Lantern in front of her. “You can’t be here.”

Catherine smiled a smile as bright as the flames that wrapped around her body. **“Why not, sweetheart? Oh, did this just become too personal for you?”**

“Catherine, I...I…”

 **“You did this.”** The dead witch spread her arms wide. **“This is all your fault. If you had a soul like a normal person then Asmodeus wouldn’t have burnt me alive.”**

Catherine stepped towards Wallflower. She made no move to stop her and her teammates had their own Black Lanterns to fight. They had gotten spread out again. That wasn’t good.

Catherine stepped closer. **“You killed me.”**

“No,” Wallflower choked out. “You tried to kill me.”

**RAGE.**

Catherine laughed. Her hand flew towards Wallflower’s heart.

“No!” Wonder Girl shouted.

She was the closest to Wallflower. She ran as fast as she could and jumped between her and the Black Lantern.

Catherine screamed.

**CONNECTION SEVERED.**

Wonder Girl gasped, staring at the pile of dust that had been Catherine and her Black Lantern ring. It showed no sign of reforming and was quickly blown away by the wind.

“White light,” Wallflower croaked from where she’d fallen behind Wonder Girl, both pushed out of the way and collapsed in pain after Wonder Girl had started burning with the white light of life. “You saved me.”

Wonder Girl turned and forced a smile. “What are friends for?”

Wallflower laughed, breathless and hunched over as the feeling of dead numbness moved up both her arms.

“Are you alright?” Donna shouted.

“Fine!” Wonder Girl called back.

“What’s going on?” Aqualad exclaimed as the Black Lantern he was fighting suddenly flew away.

“I don’t know,” White Canary said as the Black Lantern archer Artemis abandoned their fight without even loosening the arrow she had nocked. 

“Wonder Girl, Wallflower, incoming!” Red Robin warned.

Skitter hissed questioningly.

“They must sense that Wonder Girl is the real threat,” Donna speculated.

Wonder Girl scowled at the Black Lanterns flying at her. “You want our fear, our love? Come and get it!”

The Black Lanterns dove towards her. Wonder Girl let out a yell and burning white light burst from her heart. The nearest Black Lanterns turned to dust immediately while the ones that had yet to reach her, a group of four that included Artemis and Beast Boy, were just skimmed by the light before they screamed and flew away as fast as they could.

Wonder Girl fell to her hands and knees. Superboy and Troia landed beside her and helped her to her feet.

“Thanks,” Wonder Girl gasped.

“No problem,” Troia said, squinting at her. “I guess you can’t turn the light down?”

“What light?” White Canary asked, jumping to the street from the roof of a corner store. “It’s disappeared.”

“No, it hasn’t,” Wallflower said. “I see it.” Burning white light surrounded Wonder Girl’s body.

“Huh,” Red Robin said. He looked from Wallflower to Troia. The wheels in his head started turning.

“Are you alright, Wallflower?” Aqualad asked, joining them with the rest of the team.

“I’m fine.” Wallflower pushed herself to her feet, ignoring how her arms were doing their best to be dead weights. “Let’s worry about the Black Lanterns. There are still more of them out there.”

“I need to get to the front lines,” Wonder Girl said.

“The front lines? Look at yourself!” White Canary protested. “You can barely stand up.”

Skitter hissed at Wallflower at a volume that her hearing aids could pick up even without their comm function.

“I said I’m fine!” Wallflower snapped.

“No, she’s right, you’re not,” Bunker said. “You’ve never yelled at Skitter before, _hermana_.”

Wallflower rubbed her arms and shook out her hands, scowling. She tore off one of her gloves, figuring if they were going to be standing around arguing she may as well check for visible damage. The black veins and grey skin she uncovered left her unable to argue back. The rest of the team noticed pretty quickly. Bunker swore impressively in Spanish for a good minute.

“That’s a problem,” Kid Flash squeaked.

“Understatement,” Aqualad said. “Understatement of the year.”

“How did that happen?” Superboy asked. “Trivia saved you.”

“I think I used too much magic. Something had to give.” Wallflower rolled up her sleeve and exposed more greying skin. “Hells.”

This was the point in the zombie movie where the characters had to find a cure or kill their friends.

“We can see like them,” Troia said. “Superboy has white light around him too, though not as much as Wonder Girl. And everyone else has other colours.”

Wallflower nodded. She could see those lights too. There was a lot of yellow and red.

“So we’ve got two mini-Doves and two...” White Canary gestured at Troia and Wallflower.

“Seems so,” Red Robin said. “Wonder Girl, Superboy, you’re on point. Troia, Wallflower, stay near them. We don’t need more Black Lanterns to deal with.”

Troia and Wallflower winched, but they knew he was right.

“Where are we going?” Superboy asked.

“I talked to Batman,” Red Robin said. “The front lines are in Coast City.”

* * *

There actually weren’t any obvious front lines, so Raven teleported them into the middle of the battle. It was a really big battle. In the middle of it all was the Black Lantern Central Power Battery, towering darkly over the city.

Along with all the superheroes who had managed to stay alive, there were supervillains, magic users, new gods and Lanterns fighting alongside each other against the Black Lanterns.

There were a lot of Lanterns. Look, there was the blue blur that was the Flash wielding a Blue Lantern ring. Wonder Woman was brandishing a Star Sapphire ring alongside her sword. Lex Luthor had constructed a giant suit of robotic armour with his Orange Lantern ring. Yikes, Scarecrow was a Yellow Lantern, like he wasn’t terrifying enough. Though that was probably why he was chosen…Oh dear. Was that Supergirl with a Red Lantern ring? That was going to cause problems if they all survived this.

And Superman was a Black Lantern. That was causing problems _now_.

“Remember that these aren’t the people we knew,” Red Robin said. “Hit them with everything you’ve got.”

They did.

Despite trying to stick together, the Teen Titans soon got split up. Wallflower found herself fighting alongside Papa Midnite and his zombies against Hawkman and four mages, Sargon the Sorcerer (three of them, including the one that was leading the Cult of the Cold Flame) and Mister E.

“You’re still alive,” Midnite said, sounding surprised. He swung his machete and cleaved Sargon #1’s body in half before setting his zombies on him and turning to face Hawkman.

“Trying,” Wallflower replied. “Nrub meht.”

Sargon #2 burst into flames while only Sargon #3’s head was set alight. Wallflower blinked, trying in vain to get her eyesight back to normal as the dead feeling of the Black Lantern taint crept up her neck and overwhelmed her left eye.

“And in about an hour you won’t be,” Midnite commented, battling machete against mace with the undead Hawkman.

Wallflower flew up and kicked Mister E towards the burning Sargon #2. “Guess I’d better find Dove then, huh, Papa?”

Midnite spared her a single glance as he hacked Hawkman’s legs off. “It’s been nice knowing you. Trade?”

As an answer, Wallflower dodged a spell fired at her by Mister E and flew away with the top half of Hawkman’s body, dragging it by the wings. Midnite gave a wry half-smile before uncapping a potion that he poured on as much of Mister E as possible.

“I never liked trench coats much,” he told the Black Lantern as it turned to dust.

Hawkman grew his legs back after about fifteen seconds. He swung his fist at Wallflower’s face, having lost his mace during his fight with Papa Midnite. Wallflower lost her grip on his wings and Hawkman flew down to harass Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Apparently being halfway to joining them meant the Black Lanterns were no longer interested in Wallflower. Well, it made it easier for her to burn them to ashes anyway.

Dove was battling a swarm of Black Lanterns back-to-back with Troia. Troia ignored the pain that shot through her arm every time Dove turned a Black Lantern to dust, but she was glad she could fight with one hand.

Wonder Girl and Superboy had somehow managed to stick together, that or they’d had the infinitesimal chance of running into each other in the total chaos of the battle. Wonder Girl looked on the verge of falling out of the sky but she continued to throw out her lasso, which burned with white light and disintegrated any Black Lanterns that weren’t fast enough to get out of the way.

“You okay?” Superboy yelled as he blasted Black Lantern Martian Manhunter with his heat vision.

“Fine!” Wonder Girl lied.

Another Black Lantern, Superboy wasn’t sure who it was, made a grab for Superboy’s heart. They were thrown back several feet, right into the path of Wonder Girl’s lasso.

By then it was nighttime. When Wonder Girl saw bright lights streaking through the sky she wasn’t sure if they were shooting stars or her exhausted brain playing tricks on her.

“More rings!” several members of the various Lantern Corps shouted, verbalizing what their own rings were telling them.

_ DAMIAN WAYNE OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ GEORGE HARKNESS OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ BOSTON BRAND OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ J'ONN J'ONZZ OF MARS, LIVE! _

_ KATAR HOL OF THANAGAR, LIVE!  _

_ JAIMINI SARGENT OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ ARTEMIS CROCK OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ HANK HALL OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ KAL-EL OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ SIOBHAN SMYTHE OF EARTH, LIVE! _

_ PAMELA LILLIAN ISLEY OF EARTH, LIVE!  _

_ DONNA TROY OF EARTH, LIVE! _

Blinding white light made Coast City brighter than day. The Black Lanterns near Robin, Captain Boomerang, Deadman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Sargon #3, Artemis, Hawk, Superman, Silver Banshee, Poison Ivy and Troia just weren’t fast enough to get away from their former comrades. They were blasted apart by the light the white rings emitted as they claimed their Lanterns.

 _“White Lanterns, to me!”_ Superman called.

The other White Lanterns flew towards Superman. Together the twelve of them fired beams of light from their rings into the heart of the Black Lantern Central Power Battery. The Power Battery began to glow a sickly grey and it started to heat up as the black and white light battled inside it.

 _“Give it more power!”_ Martian Manhunter shouted.

The living combatants continued fighting against the remaining Black Lanterns as the White Lanterns poured as much power as they could into overwhelming the Power Battery. Superman and Silver Banshee even added their heat vision and supersonic wail, respectively. Still the Power Battery endured.

 _“It’s still not enough?”_ Poison Ivy exclaimed. _“How?”_

 _“We’re missing something,”_ Sargon said, looking around with glowing eyes. _“What are we missing?”_

 _“I think I know,”_ Troia said. She spoke into her comm. _“We need Dove at the Power Battery.”_

By some luck, most of the other Teen Titans had encountered Dove and were fighting alongside her. Red Robin quickly passed on the message. Dove looked at Skitter, Wallflower and Raven, who were fighting against Beast Boy and Bunker, who had been killed by Hawkman before the white rings came.

“We’ll be fine,” Red Robin told her. “Go!”

Dove nodded and took off. Raven threw up a wall of fire to keep Beast Boy, Bunker and the other Black Lanterns back.

Dove instinctively stopped flying right in front of the White Lanterns. Their individual beams of white light bent towards her and merged into a single beam as they passed through her heart. The strong white light hit the heart of the Power Battery and cracks radiated from where it struck.

_ “It’s working!” _

The Power Battery exploded in a blast of light and heat. Many, many people screamed all at once.

And then it was silent.

Absolutely silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only Twitter avatar used this chapter is https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bisexual_Pride_Flag.png  
> The demon banishment from the start of this chapter is from "Constantine: The Hellblazer #1" from June 2015 (translated for the type of magic everyone uses).  
> Updated because I realized I did a stupid and had White Lantern speech look the same as signing. Can you tell that there wasn't any sign language in the first draft of this?


	6. In Which Nobody Gets a Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to apologize for the fact that this chapter turned into "2020, but over the course of two weeks" (though at least there isn't a pandemic).

The worst part of the Black Lantern invasion was going to the funerals. There was a new cemetery opened just to bury the heroes who had been killed. They called it Valhalla. It was in Metropolis. Wallflower officially hated Metropolis.

Bunker and Beast Boy were both buried in Valhalla. Red Robin was in the middle of preparing to get what was left of Bunker’s body sent back to his family when they sent a message to the Teen Titans. They were happy for Miguel to be buried with the other heroes, but they wanted to be able to come to the United States to attend the funeral. Batman took care of that in about two seconds.

The patch of land that the city had given to the Justice League had been a public park, and still technically was. Valhalla was right in the centre of the eight hundred and ninety-seven acres of greenery, surrounded by an iron fence but with a gate that during the day was open for anyone who wanted to pay their respects.

Bunker and Beast Boy were buried right next to each other. The funerals had been a few days apart, long enough for mourners to cover the temporary plastic marker on Bunker’s grave with all sorts of things. Flowers mostly, but someone had left a folded rainbow flag at the end of his grave and there was a bunch of helium balloons that bobbed distractingly all throughout Beast Boy’s funeral.

“There are people out there taking pictures,” Wallflower muttered once the funeral was over.

“I know,” Superboy grumbled. “Try to ignore them.”

Wonder Girl glared at the people outside the fence who were aiming their cell phone cameras in their direction. The trees groaned in the wind. _-Not Gar, not Gar…-_ they seemed to be saying.

Wallflower hated Metropolis.

* * *

Wonder Girl❤️💛  
@realWonderGirl   
To all the people who took pictures at Bunker and Beast Boy’s funerals, fuck off. 06:47 PM - 27 June 2016  458  653 

* * *

Delilah🌼🌈  
@wildflowerbisexual   
Sorry, no new art today. I’ve been to too many funerals this week. 05:02 PM - 1 July 2016  130  3 

Brookthebank  
@brookmaclay   
Replying to @wildflowerbisexual Take all the time you need, sweetie. 05:30 PM - 1 July 2016  50  102 

* * *

Delilah was pretty sure she should have been dead. She had been dying—she had definitely been dying— and then she wasn’t. She didn’t know how or why and none of her books were any help. In other situations like this (finding out she didn’t have a soul was much more traumatic then she let on) she asked her teacher for help but the ghost witch hadn’t shown up at the magic shop since before the Black Lanterns. So she was dealing with it using the rug method, as in sweep it all under the rug and save the existential crisis induced panic attacks for when she was safe at home.

Unhealthy? Probably, but it wasn’t like their insurance would pay for her to see a therapist. No one in Finley could get good insurance. It came with living in gang territory.

Besides, they had bigger problems to deal with, like the sudden uptake in natural disasters. Wallflower hadn’t expected to need to fly in a hurricane. In the past week she’d been in three, though she still hadn’t flown. It was too risky to try to make the wind carry her inside the storm, so Superboy gave her a lift.

“All together now,” Mera said. She, her students and other Atlantean volunteers siphoned water out of the hurricane’s clouds. In the eye of the storm, Wallflower concentrated on slowing down the wind and equalizing the air pressure. The goal was to weaken the hurricane, if not make it dissipate entirely. They’d managed to completely get rid of the last two but that was back when they hadn’t been tired from fighting two hurricanes.

“Wind speed is down about twenty percent,” Wallflower reported. “Air pressure hasn’t changed much.”

“It doesn’t feel like we’re making a dent in the clouds,” Aqualad said.

“They’re a little thinner,” Superboy said.

They could only manage the magic for a few more minutes. People dropped out as they felt they’d reached their limit and soon Mera and an elderly Atlantean man were the only ones left. By that time the clouds had cleared enough that Wallflower could see the ocean below though the gaps and they were moving slowly enough that she could have flown through them on her own if she weren’t so tired. The storm wasn’t gone, but there was a good chance of it dying out before it made landfall.

“That’s enough,” Mera said. “Good work, everyone. Get home safe.”

Superboy and Wallflower dropped out of the storm above Aqualad’s head. Aqualad raised his hand in what was barely a wave.

“I’m not carrying you too,” Superboy said.

“Whatever. Let’s go before I pass out,” Aqualad said.

Superboy did end up fishing Aqualad out of the water when they got back to _Titans Tower_. The other boy seemed happy enough to stay floating next to the ship despite the ladder within easy reach.

_“We’ll go to debriefing,”_ Wallflower signed once Aqualad was on deck. _“Take a nap.”_

_“Thanks,”_ Aqualad signed with a yawn.

Red Robin had turned the living room into a command centre. In addition to the television there were a dozen holographic screens streaming news reports from around the world. In the middle of it was Red Robin, talking to Nightwing over a call that had the sound of sirens in the background while he worked on his computer. 

“Hey,” Superboy said. “The hurricane’s taken care of.”

“I saw.” Red Robin gestured towards one of the holograms. “How many missing, Nightwing?”

“Not sure yet,” Nightwing said. “Got to go, B’s calling.”

Red Robin said goodbye and ended the call.

“What happened?” Wallflower asked.

“Earthquakes in Gotham,” Reb Robin said. “I’m trying to figure out if they were natural or not. We’ll talk later.”

Superboy and Wallflower exchanged a look of concern that Red Robin didn’t miss but definitely ignored.

“Sure, Tim,” Superboy said. “Let us know if there’s anything we can do.”

* * *

Sharing space with the Justice League Dark was something Cassie was sure she’d never get used to. The Silent Armour had been constantly freaked out since the team of demons and magic users (mostly magic users) stepped on board _Titans Tower_. Cassie was ninety percent sure it was reacting to Nightmare Nurse but Constantine gave her the creeps too, in a ‘this man attracts too many demons’ sort of way. Unfortunately, since she was one of the people on board who had been resurrected without a White Lantern ring, Cassie was spending a lot of time with the JLD.

So much time that she could map exactly how the current argument between Zatanna and Constantine was going to go.

“Are we going to go with ignoring them?” Cassie asked quietly.

Boston Brand, formerly known as Deadman, eyed the two magicians who were on the ex-boyfriend part of the argument. “Works for me.”

They turned back to Raven, Delilah and Nightmare Nurse, who were discussing white light and souls over the documents that covered the kitchen counter.

“Celine and I managed to track down a few people who’ve been resurrected,” Raven said. “Red Hood and Resurrection Man both used white light during the attacks but haven’t been able to since.”

“Well, there aren’t any Black Lanterns anymore, so why would they need to?” Delilah frowned. “Red Hood died? That explains a lot.”

Cassie was not going to ask when (not if) Delilah had met a guy on the Justice League’s most wanted list or how Celine and Raven had gotten in contact with him. Some things were better not to know.

“Are we assuming that both of them have souls?” Nightmare Nurse asked.

Boston raised an eyebrow. “That is the standard human condition, isn’t it? Heck, it’s the standard inhuman condition.”

Delilah’s form flickered as she went invisible for a split second. That was something she’d started doing when she got nervous lately. Cassie wasn’t sure if anyone else had noticed.

“Anyway, what do souls have to do with this?” Boston raised his hand to indicate the White Lantern ring on his finger.

The volume of Zatanna and Constantine’s argument increased. That would be the betrayal part. A few more minutes and then they’d rejoin the group.

The sudden flash of white light caught everyone by surprise. Cassie didn’t look away fast enough and had to blink away spots while bracing for something or someone to come flying at her. The first thing she saw when her vision was clear was that they were missing a person.

“Do Lantern rings have a teleportation function?” Delilah asked.

That would explain why Boston was gone.

Cassie sighed and got up from her seat. “I’m telling Red Robin.”

Red Robin tracked Boston to Washington before Zatanna tried and failed to locate him with a spell. That wasn’t a surprise. All of the magic-users had been complaining about magic not working on Boston. Zatanna had theorized that it had to do with the ring, but she wasn’t going to let a little thing like alien technology stop her from doing her best to find her teammate.

“He’s met up with Hawk and Dove,” Red Robin said. “Looks like there was a bit of a fight but they’re fine now.”

Cassie looked at the screen that Red Robin had glanced at in time to see Hawk punching Boston through the window of a store. She winched. Yeah, that looked totally fine.

Red Robin clicked a button on his computer screen. When he spoke, Cassie could hear his voice being broadcasted through the hallways of the ship. That was new. She didn’t know they had a PA system.

“Aquaman is requesting backup for wildfires threatening Coast City,” Red Robin said. “Suit up.”

There wasn’t time to call Dove and let her know that they’d like their undead acrobat back in one piece. Celine stayed behind to man Red Robin’s command centre and once Raven teleported them to California the rest of the Titans and JLD immediately split up to battle the fires (Aqualad, Superboy, Wallflower and Constantine) and evacuate civilians (everyone else). The sky was a sickly orange from the fire and smoke. There were multiple wildfires burning up and down the entire west coast but the ones bearing down on Coast City were moving fast. Getting people out took priority.

Wonder Girl was aware of the rest of the day in stills and flashes. Nightmare Nurse looked much less terrifying when she was healing a little girl’s broken ankle. Kid Flash handed a kid off to Wonder Girl before running off to fix someone’s car. She ran into Wonder Woman at one point but had no idea if either of them had said anything. At least it probably hadn’t been awkward. Probably. By the time Red Robin told them that everyone in the path of the fires had been evacuated, Wonder Girl was exhausted.

“How are the fires?” Kid Flash asked.

There was a crackling sound over the comms. Wonder Girl didn’t know if it was due to the fires or some other interference.

“Mostly handled,” Superboy said. “Raven, Zatanna, if you’re not too tired, magic seems to be working best.”

“We’re dumping water on fire, of course it’s working,” Constantine said.

“Where are you getting water from?” Wallflower demanded. “I can’t take any more out of the air without causing sparks.”

Aqualad muttered something that sounded like “tree”.

“I can join you,” Raven said. “Send me your location.”

While Raven went to help with the fires, the rest of them moved further inland, away from the smoke. Wonder Girl sat on a bench and caught the bottle of water Red Robin threw at her with one hand.

“Is now a good time to tell you Deadman’s disappeared again?” Celine asked.

Of course he had.

“There’s also been an earthquake that caused a sinkhole in Seattle and a forest that grew in Gotham in the last two hours,” Celine said.

Red Robin asked for more information on the earthquake. Wonder Girl quickly finished drinking her water. There was rescue work in their near future.

* * *

Wallflower managed to hold back the bone-wracking coughing fit until after she’d delivered the crying child she was carrying to a triage station. She blamed smoke inhalation when the medic who’d taken the child asked if she was okay and flew off before he could try to do anything. It was a total lie. They’d had respirator masks to stop them from breathing smoke while they put the fires in California out. The black gunk she was coughing up had nothing to do with smoke. At least between the soot and her black costume no one else had noticed.

“Who’s coughing?” Kid Flash asked. “It sounds bad.”

For one stupid second Wallflower thought about not saying anything. But only for a second, because she wasn’t stupid.

“That would be me,” Wallflower said. “Rob, anything on how many people are still missing?”

“Five that have been reported,” Red Robin said.

“Superman says he counts twelve people,” Superboy said.

Wallflower winched. “Rescues first, talking about my problems later.”

The sinkhole had taken one and a half buildings down and was threatening the other half of a three storey apartment building. With thirty superheroes ranging from A-list to E-list and several teams of first responders it took less than an hour to dig all twelve people out of the rubble. There were a few major injuries but no one died on scene. At least, not that Wallflower was aware of. She didn’t want to know.

The Teen Titans reconvened at Green Arrow’s super-secret treetop base outside the city. White Canary led them there.

“This is supposed to be a secret base,” Green Arrow complained.

White Canary rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Kid Flash raided Green Arrow’s pantry. While he was eating his third (thirteenth?) protein bar he asked Wallflower if she was sick or something. Wallflower shook her head but then started coughing practically on cue.

“Or something,” Wallflower said. “You know how we thought the Black Lanterns were gone?”

There was a moment of total silence. The rest of the Titans looked at each other as if to check that they’d heard correctly.

“I don’t like where this is going,” Troia said.

Wallflower grimaced and tugged at her jacket collar, revealing the black veins creeping up her neck that she’d seen reflected in the mirror of an abandoned car. “Sorry.”

“When did that start?” Superboy asked once the swearing had stopped.

Wallflower shrugged. She’d only noticed the veins a few hours ago but she’d been feeling off since before the fires.

Red Robin rubbed his forehead. He looked like he was regretting every decision in his life that had led up to this point. He also looked like he hadn’t slept in three days, because he probably hadn’t slept in three days. They needed to make a schedule for forcing Red Robin to sleep.

“Maybe this has to do with—” Wonder Girl said. She cut herself off when there was a bright flash of white light.

Boston appeared in the middle of Green Arrow’s training room. Everyone who was sitting down jumped to their feet, except for Wallflower. She was a little busy recovering from the sudden feeling of being burned alive. She’d forgotten what white light did to the Black Lantern infected.

“Where have you been?” Wonder Girl asked.

Boston shook his head. “Mars? I can’t—” His hands shook. His White Lantern ring was pointed at the floor and he seemed to be using all his strength to keep it like that.

Superboy helped Wallflower to her feet. _“You okay?”_ he signed.

_“No. Yes. No.”_ Wallflower shrugged. She probably shouldn’t have been in this much pain.

Boston let out a yell. The arm he was trying to keep down moved and his ring was pointed at Wallflower. 

“Get out of here, kid!” Boston shouted. “I can’t control it!”

Wallflower wasn’t even able to blink before the ring sent out a blast of light. The light hit her head on and it felt like she should have been breathing fire as she screamed.

The next thing Wallflower was aware of was the green. Layers upon layers of leaves formed a canopy above her that blocked any sunlight, or maybe that was the clouds she could see through the rare gaps in the leaves. It was having more than enough light to see by despite the lack of sunlight that made Wallflower aware that she wasn’t alone. 

A fiery form with a white-hot House of El crest on its chest was standing to Wallflower’s left. Judging by the cape-like flames, that was Superman. To her right, encased in the trunk of a tree, was a Lantern Power Battery that gave off soft white light. Superman and the Power Battery illuminated a Poison Ivy made of soil and vine plants, shimmering water wearing Martian Manhunter’s cross belt, and a living tornado shaped like Hawkman. Boston was standing next to the Power Battery. There was a cut over his eyebrow that could be explained by Hawk having him by the throat. Dove managed to look as surprised as the rest of them despite the mask that completely covered her eyes.

Superman raised a hand to eye level and studied it. “I can feel fires and... the sun.”

“Plants,” Poison Ivy said. “The earth. It’s all connected.”

“As are the waters,” Martian Manhunter added.

“And the air,” Hawkman said.

Wallflower got to her feet and studied her own hands. She still had a human body but she felt something milling under her skin that was aching to be let out.

Hawk dropped Boston. “The hell is going on?”

Any possible answer was cut off by the ground shaking from heavy steps coming towards the Power Battery. Wallflower spun around and saw Swamp Thing towering over them, only it couldn’t be Swamp Thing, because Swamp Thing had disappeared and hadn’t been among the resurrected.

Also, Not-Swamp Thing had the Black Lantern symbol in the middle of its rotting chest.

“We know what we have to do,” Martian Manhunter said.

The four elemental heroes (and villain) melted into their environment and in a blink they were attacking Not-Swamp Thing (aka the Dark Avatar) with full force.

Vines created by Poison Ivy wrapped around the Dark Avatar’s head and pulled it back until its neck snapped. Its body was set on fire by Superman while Martian Manhunter tore off one of its legs with chains made of water. By flying around in a circle, Hawkman created a tornado that pulled the monster off balance and tore pieces of rotting, blackened plant life off of its body.

Of course, it put itself back together, seemingly without any inconvenience at all.

“Are you kidding me?” Wallflower complained.

“We have to keep it away from the Power Battery,” Superman said. “That’s all that matters.”

The Dark Avatar charged at them. Wallflower raised her hands and called on fire. Instead, two blades of a silver substance (not solid, not liquid, not gas) shot out and cut off the Dark Avatar’s arms. There wasn’t any time to figure out what that was. Superman was right. The only thing that mattered was protecting the Power Battery.

Hawk and Dove jumped into the fight. Hawk had some pretty impressive talons but Dove was no slouch. Boston stood in front of the Power Battery as the last line of defence, but the Dark Avatar never got close.

Then the elementals turned into formless streams of their elements that circled around the four humans and the tree holding the White Lantern Power Battery before diving into the ground under the tree. Wallflower fell to her hands and knees as the silver element she’d been fighting with drained out of her, leaving her feeling hollow. The tree split open, releasing the Power Battery and firing the elementals, the silver element and a beam of white light at the Dark Avatar’s face.

_ BOSTON BRAND, WE REQUIRE THE LAST PIECE. _

Boston held out the hand that his White Lantern ring was on. “Go,” he told the ring.

The ring flew off of his hand and joined with the beam of white light, giving it a final kick as it and the elementals entered the hollow eyes of the Dark Avatar. The Dark Avatar gave a wordless shriek that shook the trees. Hawk and Dove sank to the ground with looks of what Wallflower could only describe as awe on their faces.

The Dark Avatar changed. The rotting black vines turned to living green and then burning white. The symbol in the centre of its chest stretched out, marking it as a White Lantern instead of a Black Lantern.

_ ALEC HOLLAND OF EARTH, LIVE! _

The resurrected Swamp Thing glowed with the white light of Life.

“Whoa,” Boston said.

That was an understatement.

The light faded and Swamp Thing turned back into his regular green self, though he was still over fifty feet tall.

“Thank you all for your help,” his voice rumbled. “Elementals, in the name of Life, I release you.”

Swamp Thing shrank as the powers of the elements left him. Superman, Hawkman, Poison Ivy and Martian Manhunter reformed in front of him. All of them were back to normal.

“Does anyone else have a headache?” Hawkman asked.

Hawk and Wallflower raised their hands. Then they looked at each other and their hands went back down. No one else seemed to notice.

“Would someone explain what just happened?” Poison Ivy asked.

“Short version, the Earth was dying and now it isn’t,” Boston said.

Well, that explained all the natural disasters.

There was a yell. Then Wallflower was on her feet being hugged (not attacked) by Wonder Girl while Wonder Girl spoke too quickly for her to comprehend what she was saying. Wallflower hadn’t known that they were at the friendship level that allowed for hugs. Over Wonder Girl’s shoulder, she saw the rest of the Teen Titans and the JLD land near Swamp Thing.

“What happened?” Wallflower asked.

Wonder Girl drew back and signed, _“You were gone for a week.”_

A week? Well, at least she’d already graduated.

“As lovely as this reunion is, I’d appreciate it if you heroes would get out of my park,” Poison Ivy said dryly.

Hawkman immediately took flight. Superman stayed a moment longer to say something to Superboy and then he was gone too.

Boston turned to pick up the white Power Battery, only to find that it had vanished. “Typical,” he grumbled.

Poison Ivy tapped her foot impatiently. The rest of them quickly decided that it would be better for their health to be anywhere else. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Images used as Twitter avatars this chapter in order:  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blond_woman_in_with_sunset_on_the_background.jpg  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bisexual_Pride_Flag.png  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amber_Benson_(1053078).jpg


	7. In Which the World Ends

More than nine hundred years in the future there is a planet whose name does not matter. On this planet there is a boy whose name also does not matter in this time.

In another time he was called Superboy-Prime.

In another universe his name was Jon Lane Kent.

He should be dead.

This planet, with no name that matters, has something in common with a planet that existed a long, long time ago.

That planet was called Krypton.

If Superboy-Prime had known that this planet was going to go the way of that long ago Krypton he may not have been there at that time. Maybe, maybe not. It was hard to tell what Superboy-Prime would do anymore. Spending more than two years stuck in the 31st century had not been good for his already damaged psyche, mostly because he had spent that time in nearly complete isolation.

He tended to kill any sentient life-forms he came across and didn’t leave much time for them to have long conversations.

Superboy-Prime had chosen to stay behind in the future for reasons known only to him when he had come there with the 21st century team of teenage superheroes known as the Teen Titans. Then he had gone back to the 21st century, killed some people, caused a few time paradoxes, and died.

And that should have been the end of him. But it wasn’t. Somehow he’d ended up back in the 31st century. Fast forward two years and he was on a planet whose name did not matter, looking for technology that had been left behind when the planet was evacuated.

Because the planet was going to explode, not that he knew that.

Superboy-Prime flipped over a lab bench. “It should be here!” He growled and tore through a cabinet that was luckily empty of anything radioactive. “Where is it?”

A small sample of the tech that Superboy-Prime was looking for was in the lab, left behind in the rush to get off-planet, but he wouldn’t be able to find it before the planet died. However, he was just close enough to it that when the planet tore itself apart from the inside out it did just what Superboy-Prime wanted it for.

Superboy-Prime went tumbling nine hundred years into the past and crash landed very near to the only other human/ Kryptonian hybrid currently in existence.

His name was Conner Kent.

He was called Superboy.

* * *

Conner’s head shot up. He had been seconds away from falling asleep at the desk in Delilah’s new dorm room but something had woken him, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t the box that Delilah had dropped absolutely on purpose.

“Cassie and I finished unpacking without you,” she said. “Thanks so much for offering to help.”

Wasn’t it a little early for sarcasm?

“I haven’t gotten much sleep with that smuggling ring causing problems,” Conner said, looking around. “Did you hear something?”

“It is move-in day, mister super hearing,” Delilah said. “Is something wrong?”

That was a somewhat unnecessary question. As members of the Teen Titans in New York City, the answer was almost always, “Yes.”

“I’m going to call Tim,” Conner said.

Delilah nodded and turned back to Cassie. Thanks to her Wayne Scholarship (“No, Tim, that doesn’t mean you can pay for all my schooling.”) she’d been able to afford a single room, which was kind of important if she wanted to keep being a superhero a secret, but the space was small enough that any movement that wasn’t carefully controlled risked landing someone with bruises. (“Someone” meaning Delilah, the only squishy human in the room.)

“I think you’re being haunted,” Cassie said.

“Why’s that?” Delilah asked.

Cassie pointed to the book lying on the bed. It was one that Delilah had brought with her, a book about ghosts, which was open to a page about White Ladies.

“That book wasn’t there a minute ago,” Cassie said. “I’m pretty sure it was in the box you said not to touch.”

Delilah felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “It was.”

She knew how to deal with a haunting, in theory. It was similar to an exorcism. She still sucked at exorcisms.

Conner tapped Delilah’s shoulder. “Tim wants us in Time Square. Emergency.”

Hopefully that emergency had to do with the drug smugglers they were chasing. Conner wasn’t the only one losing sleep to those jerks.

Delilah threw on her mask and coat and they left though the nearest open window. The streets below them were filled with people running in the opposite direction in which they were flying. There was so much noise that none of them noticed the whispering wind following them, not even Superboy.

Time Square was painted with blood. There were bodies scattered every which way, torn to pieces, burnt, full of holes and so very dead. There wasn’t even a hint of anyone left alive.

Superboy stopped flying at the sight, causing Wallflower to collide with him in midair, which sent them both spinning like tops for several seconds while they got their balance back. Those few seconds was more than enough time for the cause of the carnage to notice them.

“Kon-El!” Superboy-Prime flew straight at them and grabbed Superboy by the shoulders. “Clone,” he growled, shaking Superboy with enough force to kill an elephant. “Die.”

Superboy-Prime punched Superboy into the ground and was about to fly after him when he was jerked to a stop by Wonder Girl’s lasso. He tore uselessly at the burning lariat.

“This was made to stop Trigon,” Wonder Girl told him. “You’re not getting out.”

Superboy-Prime raged. Somehow he was able to work up the anger even as his life was being drained, but the words that made it out of his mouth were indistinct. Wonder Girl and Wallflower looked at each other.

“I’ll check on Superboy,” Wallflower said.

Wonder Girl nodded. “I’ve got this.”

Wallflower flew down to the crater Superboy’s fall had left in the pavement. Superboy was in the process of standing up, rubbing the back of his head.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Superboy said. “Did you see the others?”

Wallflower shook her head. Superboy frowned. He looked around them like he expected the other Teen Titans to pop up any second.

“We should look for survivors,” Wallflower suggested. “I’m sure the others will get here soon.”

“I don’t hear any heartbeats nearby,” Superboy said.

He looked around again, more carefully this time, and his face went white. He flew past Wallflower and started dragging bodies aside. Wallflower went after him and reached his side just as he pulled a black-haired boy out of the pile.

It was Red Robin.

The wind blew the smell of blood in their faces. Wallflower made a sound like a crying kitten. Then, without any warning, she crumbled to the ground. Superboy just managed to catch her before she landed on a body. He left bloody handprints on her coat.

“Wallflower, are you okay?” Superboy asked.

Glowing blue eyes looked up at him. “Sorry, Superboy, Wallflower’s not here.”

Superboy immediately looked away from those eyes and let go of Wallflower’s arm. He knew what possession looked like. Lowering the risk of letting whatever had possessed Wallflower get a hold of Kryptonian powers was a priority, but not the only one. “Get out of her body,” he demanded.

“Relax, Superboy. It’s Trivia. Wallflower isn’t in any condition to function right now.”

Wonder Girl landed across from them with the husk of Superboy-Prime dragging behind her. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes,” Superboy growled.

Wonder Girl took half a step back when she saw Wallflower’s glowing irises.

Wallflower’s, no, _Trivia’s_ eyes landed on the body at the end of Wonder Girl’s lasso. “Is he dead?”

“Who are you?” Wonder Girl asked.

“Call me Trivia,” Trivia said. “Is he dead?”

Wonder Girl gave her lasso a shake that caused the barbs on its surface to dig even deeper into Superboy-Prime’s flesh. “Almost. Trivia from back in June?”

Trivia gave a sad smile. “In the flesh.”

“That’s not your body,” Superboy said. “Get. Out.”

Trivia started laughing. In the middle of a street filled with dead bodies this made her look a lot worse than she was.

“Any universe,” she laughed. “You go to any Earth in the multiverse and any version of Superboy has the same berserk button!”

Superboy shook his head. Trivia had said that Wallflower wasn’t in good condition, but looking at her Superboy had to wonder if Trivia was doing any better.

Trivia’s last laugh turned into a sob. “Tim…Donna…Raven…I’ve seen all of you die so many times…”

“What?” Wonder Girl said. “Tim is…?” She finally noticed the body that Superboy was standing over. She put a hand over her mouth and a single tear ran down her face.

“They’re all dead,” Trivia said. “Donna, Raven, Bart, Aqualad, Skitter…I didn’t see White Canary though.”

“She’s with Green Arrow today,” Superboy said hoarsely.

The three of them stood looking at Red Robin’s body until they heard a helicopter overhead. Trivia looked up and then waved her hand, saying a spell under her breath. The carnage that covered Time Square was almost instantly blanketed in a sea of black body bags. Six such bags were lined up in front of Superboy, Wonder Girl and Trivia.

“We’ll take our dead,” Trivia said. “And others will come for theirs.”

“Where do we go?” Wonder Girl asked. “And what do we do with _him_?”

They all looked at what was left of Superboy-Prime.

“Isn’t he dead yet?” Trivia asked.

“Do we really want to kill him?” Superboy asked.

“Yes,” Trivia said.

The Silent Armour’s lariat retreated as Superboy-Prime’s body crumbled to dust.

Wonder Girl shook her head. “Too late to change our minds now.”

None of them were sorry.

Trivia kicked the pile of dust that had been Superboy-Prime. “Burn in hell.” She looked at Wonder Girl and Superboy. “Let’s get out of here.”

* * *

“Where are we?” Superboy asked.

Trivia hadn’t given them a chance to protest before she whisked them away in a vortex of lights and sounds. Wonder Girl looked like she wanted to punch her through the nearest wall, but she didn’t. Wallflower wouldn’t be happy if she got sidelined for days with broken bones.

“This is my home,” Trivia said. “It is…Well you start from your world and then go _sideways_. It’s sort of between, so don’t leave the building.”

Wonder Girl scowled. “Or what?”

Trivia shook her head. “I don’t know, but it probably won’t be good for your health.”

Superboy and Wonder Girl looked at each other. So, they didn’t have a way out of there and Trivia still had Wallflower’s body held hostage even if they had. They were going to have to just go along with what she wanted until something came up.

“Don’t we get a tour or something,” Superboy asked, “so we know where the doors outside are?”

Glowing blue eyes blinked. Trivia tilted her head. Then she snapped her fingers and they were enveloped in another transporting tornado that deposited them at the top of a very tall staircase.

“We’ll start at the top,” Trivia said.

Trivia showed them every room in the tower that seemed to be wider at the top than at the bottom judging by the shortening length of the hallways as they went down. There was a library, an infirmary and many, many bedrooms. Most of the bedrooms they saw looked lived in, with clothes scattered on the floor, and books and papers spread over desks, like their occupants were coming back any minute. One room was even lit with floating candles.

“Who else lives here?” Wonder Girl asked.

Trivia sighed. “No one, now.”

There were three photos on the bedside table in one bedroom. One was of a large group of people standing in front of a T-shaped tower. Another was a candid photo of four people, three boys and a girl, sitting around a campfire and laughing together. The last photo was of two women and a man with their arms around each other smiling at the camera. Every person in these photos was dressed in some sort of costume.

Superboy immediately recognized the people in the last photo. They had different costumes and they were older, but it was unmistakably him, Wonder Girl and Wallflower.

He spotted Beast Boy’s and Donna’s faces in the large group photo. There was someone dressed nearly identically to the way Bart dressed when he was being Kid Flash and a boy dressed like a Robin. A girl in the photo was wearing a dark, hooded cloak that wouldn’t look out of place in Raven’s wardrobe. There was a Kid Flash and a Robin in the last photo too, and Superboy, and Wonder Girl.

Superboy grabbed Trivia’s arm just as she was about to close the door and pointed to the photos. “What is that? Some kind of joke?”

“No,” Trivia said. “And, ow.”

Superboy quickly let go of her arm, which was really Wallflower’s arm. “Then what is it?”

“A memory,” Trivia said softly. “Can you wait until we get to the ground floor? I’d rather explain everything at once.”

They waited.

Once they reached the ground floor, Trivia led them to a large set of double doors and threw them open. “Welcome to the Memorial.”

They entered a hall that was lined on both sides with stone statues raised up on plinths. Trivia immediately went to a statue at the other end of the hall of a woman with long hair and looked up at her face. She acted like Superboy and Wonder Girl weren’t there, and they got the feeling that this was something she did every time she went into this hall.

It was.

The statue was of the woman who had killed her.

Superboy and Wonder Girl followed Trivia into the hall. Wonder Girl read some of the plaques at the bases of the statues they passed. They didn’t get very far before Wonder Girl elbowed Superboy and hissed at him that he had to look at this.

The statue was of a masked woman wearing a jumpsuit and a belt very like Red Robin’s. She was signing something with one hand that Wonder Girl didn’t know but Superboy recognized as the American Sign Language sign “fly” as in an airplane.

The plaque by her feet read _Wallflower_.

Superboy cleared his throat loudly. Trivia looked over and saw which statue they were standing in front of.

“Are you going to explain now?” Wonder Girl asked.

Trivia nodded. She joined them in front of the statue of the other Wallflower.

“Do you remember how I said we were family?” she asked Superboy.

Superboy nodded slowly.

“We lived here,” Trivia said, “when it was real. This was Titans Tower. We were the Teen Titans, lots of us. We were heroes, but more than that we were a family.” She looked up at Wallflower’s statue. “I was proud to say I died a Titan.”

Wonder Girl gasped. “So you _were_ Wallflower.”

Trivia looked at her with wide eyes. “You already knew? How?”

“When you brought me and Wallflower back to life,” Wonder Girl said, “you left behind some of your memories. Most of them were about the Black Lanterns but some…We were pretty sure you were some other version of Wallflower.”

Trivia nodded. “In another time, practically another world. After I died I got to stick around as a ghost because of a deal I made with Hecate so that I could help fight the Black Lanterns. I did odd jobs for her and sometimes that meant that I had to go to a different universe.”

“Multiverse theory,” Superboy interrupted.

“Not just a theory.” Trivia smiled. “Power Girl is from a different Earth, you know.”

They hadn’t known. It explained a lot about her powers actually, and was something that Superman and Batman would be interested in knowing.

Batman probably already knew.

“Anyway,” Trivia said, “I was on my way back from one of those jobs when the multiverse…reset, for lack of a better word. Someone rebooted it and everything was different. Hecate didn’t even remember that I worked for her. She kicked me out.”

“Why weren’t you affected?” Superboy asked.

“That’s what I wanted to know,” Trivia said. “I mean, Delilah had been rebooted along with everything else. Eventually I found out that I stayed the same because I wasn’t in a universe when the reboot happened. I was between universes but my body was on your Earth so Delilah ended up existing too. I wasn’t really interested in not existing anymore so I set up shop here, between universes.”

“So when you say you’ve seen us die before—” Wonder Girl choked before she could go any further, the bodies of their friends that were lying in the entrance hall at the forefront of her mind.

Trivia smiled sadly. “There were some bumps in the road getting this new universe established. When too many ‘important’ people died there were minor resets that that brought everything back to how it was before it went wrong. Usually it was entire teams, the Justice League, the Justice League of America, the Teen Titans. Sometimes you guys didn’t even team up before all of you died, which made the resets faster.”

“Do you think there’ll be a reset now?” Superboy asked. Their entire team was dead and the universe didn’t sound like it liked that.

Trivia frowned. “Maybe. There hasn’t been one for almost six years, the way I’m counting, but with the Black Lanterns there have been a lot of important deaths.”

“We could get them back,” Wonder Girl said. “All of them.”

Trivia shook her head. “Maybe, maybe not. It depends on what the universe wants.”

“We should go back to Earth then,” Superboy said. None of them would be part of the reset if they weren’t on Earth.

Trivia shook her head again and told them that they would get plenty of warning if a reset was going to happen so they didn’t have to go back just yet. Then she said that they should get some rest and were welcome to use any of the bedrooms. Wallflower’s eyes stopped glowing when Trivia left her body. The ghost went out the door and disappeared. Since she didn’t have a heartbeat Superboy wasn’t able to keep track of her.

Wallflower swayed slightly before catching herself on the base of the other Wallflower’s statue. “I can’t believe they’re dead.”

Wonder Girl gave Wallflower a hug, which the other girl gratefully returned. Superboy gulped down tears that would not be helpful at the moment.

“I don’t want to believe,” Wonder Girl choked out.

“We could get them back,” Superboy said. “We could get all of them back.”

Wallflower shook her head. “We could but... Guys, while Trivia was in my body...Actually, I guess it’s our body. That’s messed up. But, anyway, I saw her life. Her team, her Teen Titans, they were more than a team, they were a family. They had been together though so much. We lost all of that.”

Wonder Girl stepped back. “Our friends are dead. We could get them back, _and you don’t want to_?”

“That’s not what I mean!” Wallflower said. “There are spells, rituals, magical objects. I’ll ask Constantine for help if I need to.” 

Superboy stepped between the two girls before any weapons could be drawn. “Okay, deep breaths. It’s been a long day, let’s get some rest and we’ll figure out what to do tomorrow.”

Wonder Girl and Wallflower looked at Superboy and then looked back at each other. Things really were a mess. Superboy was being the voice of reason.

“We’re safe enough here,” Wallflower said slowly. “Trivia hasn’t lied to us about anything but—” She swallowed and continued in sign. _“I think she’s the one who taught me magic.”_

All three of them were silent.

“Tomorrow?” Wonder Girl asked.

“Tomorrow,” Superboy and Wallflower agreed.

With that procrastination decided, they climbed back up to the fifteenth floor of the tower, chose rooms with the least disturbing décor and quickly fell asleep. Somehow they all slept soundly. Losing teammates was unfortunately not new. They all had coping mechanisms but it was a surprise when they worked. 

Everyone in the building was woken up when the entire tower shook violently. Trivia flew through the wall of Wonder Girl’s room. There wasn’t time to bother with little things like doors.

“We have to leave,” the ghost said. “Now.”

In seconds the three living Titans had gathered in the hallway.

“What’s happening?” Superboy asked as another tremor shook the building.

“A reset,” Trivia said.

She flicked the fingers on her right hand and the six body bags appeared beside them. “Brace yourselves, this is going to be a bumpy ride.”

Trivia’s transportation tornado threw them around until none of them knew which way was up. They landed in a heap on overgrown shrubbery in the middle of nowhere. Trivia was breathing heavily, even though she wasn’t supposed to need to breathe.

“That bad?” Wallflower asked.

Trivia nodded. The three Titans pushed themselves to their feet and stood next to the body bags that held their teammates.

“Will you be able to get back in time?” Wonder Girl asked Trivia.

Trivia shook her head. “I’m not going back.”

Wonder Girl looked past the white hood that was hanging over Trivia’s face and saw her jaw firmly set with determination. “Why not?”

“Six years, Cassie,” Trivia said. “Have you ever been completely alone for six years? No, this time I’m staying with you.”

Superboy put a hand on Trivia’s shoulder and was only slightly surprised when his hand didn’t pass right through her. “We aren’t the people you knew.”

Trivia scoffed. “You are, you’ve just forgotten.”

“If you stay, you’ll forget too,” Wallflower pointed out.

Trivia shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. We don’t know what will happen. Maybe the universe will do us a favour and forget that Superboy-Prime existed.”

She looked up at the sky. There were no clouds but lightning flashed. No thunder followed.

“It’s time,” Trivia said.

Superboy reached out and took Wonder Girl’s hand. In turn, Wonder Girl took Wallflower’s hand. Trivia stood next to her, watching the sky.

“I love you guys,” Wonder Girl whispered.

Lightning flashed.


End file.
